2025 GALA HONOREES

Blake Hazard is one of three trustees representing the Estates of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, her great-grandparents. She helps with both the literary and the licensing sides of their legacy. Blake was born in Vermont and attended Sarah Lawrence and Harvard. As a musician, she has toured and made records as one half of the indie-pop duo The Submarines, who have licensed their songs extensively for film and television. She recently became an attorney and is currently focused on creative projects and working on behalf of her family. She’s a genuine fan of GATZ and couldn’t be more pleased to help celebrate Elevator Repair Service, and The Great Gatsby’s 100th birthday.

Eleanor Lanahan has been a trustee of the estate of F. Scott Fitzgerald since 1987, a stewardship that was previously held by her mother, Scottie Fitzgerald Smith, daughter of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. She has been involved in the arts since attending Rhode Island School of Design; as an illustrator of books; as the biographer of her mother, Scottie, the daughter of…, (Harper Collins); as the producer of Zelda, An Illustrated Life (Harry Abrams); and as the editor of The Paper Dolls of Zelda Fitzgerald (Scribner). Her work as a filmmaker includes a series of animated shorts and a documentary feature. Currently, Eleanor is writing and illustrating a tale that includes a tincture of wisdom about getting along with each other.

Eleanor says, “For decades, it was believed there could not be a faithful or lyrical theatrical production of The Great Gatsby, largely because Scott’s prose could not be compressed into dialogue. Elevator Repair Service has brought us a brilliant production that includes every beautiful word.” Eleanor is honored to have a small role in ERS’s work, even from the wings.

Robert A. Wilson, Jr.  joined Select Equity Group, L.P. in September 1998, nine months into the Off-Broadway run of Shakespeare’s R&J, where he understudied three of the four actors until the show closed the following year. It wasn’t long before collaborating in the corporate world took hold and he became a lead member of Select Equity’s Client Service team. In 2006 he was given the opportunity to take a major pivot in the firm and become the Executive Director of the Select Equity Group Foundation, a 100% inclusive, democratic, and employee-lead corporate foundation. Within this position he has had the privilege of staying connected to the arts in NYC in a way he had never imagined, including serving 12 years as an ERS board member. He strongly believes that if you work or live in NYC you have an obligation to give back to the arts in whatever way possible.

The Select Equity Group Foundation has been practicing inclusive, democratic grant-making since inception in 2000. The Foundation was created to empower Select Equity Group, L.P. employees to effect positive change in the world, giving them the opportunity to tackle issues that they feel strongly about and that are often informed by their own experiences. Our giving is not limited to a single vision, or sector, and should reflect the cares, concerns, and passions of our entire community.

PRESENTERS

Stephin Merritt releases albums under the band names the Magnetic Fields, the 6ths, the Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes. With The Magnetic Fields, Merritt has written, produced and recorded twelve albums to date. The Magnetic Fields’ 1999 album,  69 Love Songs, was a 3-disc masterwork which garnered Merritt widespread  acclaim, including “best of” year-end lists in Spin, Rolling Stone, the New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post and most other major national publications. In 2002, Merritt signed to Nonesuch Records. He and the Magnetic Fields have performed as part of Lincoln Center’s American Songwriters series and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival. Merritt composed original music and lyrics for three music theater pieces directed by Chen Shi-Zheng, and in 2008, Merritt mounted an Off Broadway stage musical of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, for which he won an Obie Award. Merritt composed the score for the academy award nominated film “Pieces of April” (dir. Peter Hedges) and for the independent film “Eban and Charley”, and released soundtrack albums for each. His song “The Book of Love,” was covered by Peter Gabriel and appears in the film “Shall We Dance” as well as numerous other films and TV shows. He composed incidental music for the HarperCollins’ audio books of A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, and for Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, and subsequently released an album Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events. Merritt released a book of prose, 101 Two Letter Words, about the tiniest words in the Scrabble dictionary, illustrated by Roz Chast. In 2024+2025, Merritt and the Magnetic Fields have been on tour to celebrate 69 Love Songs’ 25th anniversary. Additional information on Merritt and his work can be found at www.houseoftomorrow.com.

Born and raised in the Boston area, Amor Towles graduated from Yale and received an MA in English from Stanford. Having worked as an investment professional for over twenty years, he now devotes himself full time to writing in Manhattan, where he lives with his family. His novels Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow, and The Lincoln Highway, and his collection of shorter fiction Table for Two have all been New York Times bestsellers, have collectively sold more than eight million copies, and have been translated into more than forty languages. Both Bill Gates and President Barack Obama included A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway on their annual book recommendation lists.

Alessandro Nivola is an award winning actor, writer, and producer who was  most recently seen starring in Brady Corbet’s feature THE BRUTALIST which was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won four. He received  Tony and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for his performance  opposite Bradley Cooper on Broadway in THE ELEPHANT MAN and a  Drama Desk Award nomination for A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY opposite  Helen Mirren. He won the 2018 British Independent Film Award (BIFA) for  DISOBEDIENCE opposite Rachel Weisz, and he was nominated for an  Independent Spirit Award for Lisa Cholodenko’s LAUREL CANYON opposite  Frances McDormand. He won both a SAG Award and a Critics Choice Award  for David O Russell’s AMERICAN HUSTLE. In 2017 he won theTribeca Film  Festival Best Actor Award.  

Among his many other films are FACE/OFF, JUNEBUG, SELMA (Critics  Choice Award nomination best cast), A MOST VIOLENT YEAR, THE ART  OF SELF DEFENSE, THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK, Pedro  Almodovar’s THE ROOM NEXT DOOR, THE WIZARD OF LIES, COCO  BEFORE CHANEL, AMSTERDAM, THE NEON DEMON, MANSFIELD  PARK, BOSTON STRANGLER, and JURASSIC PARK 3.  

Nivola will next be seen starring opposite Paul Giamatti and Michelle Dockery  in the upcoming feature film DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRAND FINALE  which will bring the franchise to a close.

Sarah Krueger (Auctioneer), Head of Photographs, New York and Auctioneer, Phillips. Bringing 18 years of experience in the art market to her role as Phillips’ Head of Photographs in New York, Sarah plays a significant role in sourcing property for auction and developing sales strategies for high-value lots. As Phillips’ most tenured auctioneer in New York, Sarah consistently takes the rostrum for sales across all categories and has taken nearly 20,000 lots on the rostrum. She also donates her time as a benefit auctioneer to non-profit organizations that span the United States.