Photographs by William Taufic.
Connie Silver’s life is an American-dream story. She grew up in Maine with a generous spirit but no money. “In first grade, a very poor child came to school without lunch every day. I decided to take care of her and share my lunch,” recounts Connie. “My teacher called me her ‘little social worker.’” The vocation stuck.
Connie left home at seventeen, determined to go to college. She worked as a stewardess for Mohawk Airlines until she saved enough money to attend NYU, earning a Bachelor of Science in social work at thirty-five, her masters a year later and a Ph.D. in psychoanalysis in 1983. When the AIDS epidemic hit, Connie worked tirelessly counseling its victims. She was the one who hugged AIDS patients when their own mothers wouldn’t.
The costar in Connie’s movie-worthy life, is her husband of fifty-five years, Martin Silver. A poor kid from the Bronx, he enlisted, went to Korea, and attended NYU via the GI Bill. He founded a plasma collection firm, with Connie’s help, which became the ultra successful DCI Biologicals. Of her home on the Sound in Greens Farms, Connie comments, “Martin and I still drive down this driveway and wonder, Who lives here?!”
The Silvers have no children with whom to share their wealth. They have a deep passion for education, though, and have given to NYU, among others. “For every person you help educate, they change, their family life changes, their neighborhood changes, society changes,” says Connie. “Also, NYU gives the city 600,000 hours a year of work through student internships. I shudder to think if it weren’t there.” The sizeable pledge the Silvers made to NYU in 2006 will help ensure it always will be.
Connie prefers not to reveal a dollar figure for the transformative donation. Suffice it to say that the school where Connie attended (and also has taught) has been named the Silver School of Social Work, housing the McSilver Institute on Policy and Research, and a Constance-McCatherin Silver Fellowship has been established. Connie stresses, “Education is the only way to make a difference.”
“Connie is extremely philanthropic,” comments esteemed psychologist Dr. Dale Atkins. “She has had a practice as a therapist for years and she is also a wonderfully talented artist of significant surrealistic art.” The Silvers’ home is dotted with a lively cast of characters, in the form of whimsical paintings and sculptures, such as “Umbrella Man,” who stands outside the front door. “There are eighty-seven more in the garage,” notes Connie, who donates all profits from her prolific creations to NYU or NYU’s Cancer Center.
“There’s almost no altruism involved, because everything I do makes me feel good,” she says. “I have so much more than I ever need. It’s the right thing to do.”