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"I am very grateful to the Mochary/Kasser family," Montclair State President Susan A. Cole said. "What they have started to build here is going to stand for generations. Thanks to their generosity, thousands upon thousands of students, faculty and members of the community are going to have opportunities for learning, teaching and access to the arts that otherwise would never have been available to them."

William Farlie (second from left), a former mayor of Montclair and chair of the Montclair State University Community Advisory Board, shows his wife, Barbara, the artist’s rendering of the Alexander Kasser Theater, while Wayne DeFeo (center), president of the Alumni Association, chats with Sandy Polledri and John Vreeland of the law firm of Genova, Burns & Vernioa .

Mochary said the gift is the family’s way of giving back "to an institution and a community that has done so much for us. We are delighted to be able to do this.

"I hope this gift we are giving and this wonderful theater will continue to provide opportunities to talented people for generations to come."

Mochary is widely known for her generous support of a wide range of civic and social organizations. Kasser is founder of the Holualoa Companies, a real estate investment and management company, with offices from Hawaii to Paris.

Born in Budapest, Alexander Kasser earned an engineering degree from the University of Grenoble, France. By age 29, he was managing the largest paper mill in Eastern Europe.

In 1944 he organized and co-directed the Swedish Red Cross in Hungary, a group of humanitarians who worked to save hundreds of persecuted Jews and political targets. In 1997 he was awarded the title of "Righteous Among the Nations" by the Holocaust Museum in Yad Vashem, Israel, for his humanitarian activities.

After the war, Dr. Kasser relocated his family first to Mexico and then Montclair. In the United States he started a consulting and engineering firm that focused on building pulp and paper mills. In 1969, he and his wife, Elisabeth, created the Kasser Art Foundation.

Dr. Kasser died in Vienna in 1997 at the age of 88. Elisabeth, who passed away earlier this year at age 82, was an enthusiastic supporter of the vision of the theater.

Generous support for the May 8 dinner was provided by First Union Bank, Fleet Bank, the Prudential Insurance Company of America, Schering Plough Research Institute and the Hillier Group.

Benefactors include the Follett Higher Education Group, Genova, Burns & Vernoia, Johnson & Johnson, The Lunar Group, PNC Advisors, Sodexho Campus Services and Verizon. Patrons include Lum, Danzis, Drasco, Positan & Kleinberg, LLC and the MSU Alumni Association.

For information on providing financial support for the theater, contact Nancy Hutchinson, director of Major Gifts, at 973-655-5454 or e-mail hutchinson@mail.montclair.edu.

An artist’s rendering of the new theater.

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