Social Circuit, Dec. 9, 2009

Norman and Suzanne Cohn hosted a cocktail reception Nov. 20 for 80 guests at their penthouse apartment on the 45th floor of the St. James to benefit the Kimmel Center. The Cohns, whose primary residence is in Radnor, commissioned Argentine architect Cecil Baker of New York to design a spacious apartment in the city that would give them room to hold benefits for their philanthropic causes. The high-styled, contemporary apartment features sweeping views of the city, a large wine-cellar wall housed by the bar, tanks filled with live lobsters in the kitchen, and a glass installation by Dale Chihuly created for the reception area. Among the other original works of art are a chandelier in the elevator lobby by Ginny Ruffner and a textile piece by Jon Eric Riis, Coat for Icarus.

Penn Medicine celebrated the opening of its Roberts Proton Therapy Center Nov. 23 with a reception for 330 guests at the Ruth and Raymond Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. The $140 million cutting-edge radiation therapy facility was made possible by a $15 million gift from the family of Suzanne and Ralph Roberts of Comcast. Treatment for patients with cancers of the brain, head, neck, eye, and spinal cord, as well as hard-to-reach areas such as the liver, pancreas, and esophagus, will begin this winter.

Actress Leslie Caron of Gigi and American in Paris was honored Dec. 2 at a tribute dinner hosted by the Alliance Francaise de Philadelphie at the Sofitel Hotel. The evening's 260 guests each received a copy of Caron's new memoir, Thank Heaven. Among the guests were Pierre Vimont, French ambassador to the United States; Sharon Pinkenson of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office; and Diana Regan, alliance board president. The dinner, chaired by Michele Rosen, raised more than $30,000 for the nonprofit.

The Philadelphia Education Fund held its fifth annual EDDY Awards ceremony Nov. 19 at Drexel University's Edmund D. Bossone Research Enterprise Center at its College of Engineering. Among those honored at the benefit reception were Acel Moore, Inquirer associate editor emeritus; Temple University Beasley School of Law's LEAP Program; Lincoln Financial Group; Philadelphia Student Union; Youth United for Change; and Drexel nursing student Erica Garner. The event for 240 raised $112,000 to support the fund's mission to improve the quality of public education for underserved youth in the Philadelphia region.

More than 400 lawyers, judges, and business leaders attended the Philadelphia Bar Foundation's 31st Andrew Hamilton Benefit, held Nov. 21 at the Please Touch Museum. The gala, which raised $210,000, honored Catherine C. Carr of Community Legal Services and the law firms Dechert LLP and Berner Klaw & Watson LLP. One highlight of the evening: Mayor Nutter, City Solicitor Shelley R. Smith, and Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Sayde Ladov performed dance numbers with their partners, with whom they had practiced for weeks. Proceeds will benefit the foundation, which supports 31 public-interest legal organizations.