The Edit by Brett Graff
This week, SocialMiami's editor covers a record donation, the State Attorney's investiture and a lifetime achievement award from Chapman Partnership.
Paul DiMare Foundation’s $35 Million Gift to UMass Chan Med School
Paul J. DiMare Foundation made a $35 million philanthropic gift to the UMass Chan Medical School, the school’s third largest gift in its history. The gift will go towards advancing research and support breakthroughs in neurodegenerative and genetic diseases, especially ALS. The notable gift will also support the recruitment of outstanding biomedical research faculty. This is the third largest ever gift received by the University of Massachusetts.
The late Paul J. DiMare is affectionately known as “Mr. Tomato” and passed away at the age of 81. DiMare was raised in Belmont, Mass. and began working in his family’s produce business at Boston’s Haymarket Square when he was 11 years old. He led and expanded operations and distribution nationally and, in doing so, became one of the country’s most innovative, inventive and influential agricultural business leaders. The DiMare Company of Homestead, Florida is one of the largest fresh-market tomato growers and distributors in the country. Mr. DiMare was also a committed philanthropist who was deeply involved in numerous community organizations and non-profits when he died in 2022 at the age of 81.
“My father’s vision was to accelerate research to one day find cures for these devastating diseases,” said Anthony J. DiMare, Paul DiMare’s “As he would say, ‘cure the incurables.’”
Investiture of Katheryn Fernandez Rundle
A sea of Miamians city came out to support the swearing in of State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, which was held University of Miami’s Donna E. Shalala Student Center. Fernandez Rundle – who was first elected in 1994 – is Florida’s first female Cuban American State Attorney. Claudia Puig, chief communications officer of Spanish Broadcasting Systems, served as the mistress of ceremony. And the invocation was conducted by: Rabbi Mark Rosenberg, chief chaplain to FHP, FDLE, MDSO and NMBPD; Pastor Arthur Jackson III of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church and Father Manny Alvarez of Church of the Little Flower. Lisset Ledon of New World School of the Arts sang the National Anthem and the State Attorney’s grandchildren Rory, Ariel and Hugo led the Pledge of Allegiance. While Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and The Children’s Movement’s David Lawrence provide welcome remarks.
During Fernandez Rundle’s tenure, crime has fallen more than 75 percent – the lowest rate in over 30 years. She’s known for implementing a number of innovative strategies designed to protect the community including a 1997 partnership with multiple police agencies, which created the Gang Strike Force and a 2016 partnership with the Northside neighborhood, Miami-Dade, Miami Gardens and City of Miami’s Police Departments to create the Gun Violence Initiative, providing special protections to some of the community’s most vulnerable residence. She also created the Human Trafficking Task Force and pioneered the fight against child sex trafficking with a cooperative multi-agency law enforcement effort aimed at arresting and prosecuting those who prey on the youth. Through her efforts to enforce child support, Fernandez Rundle has collected over $1.7 billion dollars in the last ten years for children and families.
Laurie Jennings to Be Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award
Six-time Emmy Award-winning journalist Laurie Jennings will be honored with the Trish Bell Lifetime Achievement Award at Chapman Partnership’s 2025 Take a Walk in Her Shoes Luncheon.
The highly anticipated annual event brings together over 400 guests to honor exceptional women who have made a lasting impact on South Florida. The event raises critical funds to support Chapman Partnership’s programs, which provide safe shelter, essential resources, and long-term stability for women and children experiencing homelessness in Miami-Dade County.
Since 2016, The Trish Bell Lifetime Achievement Award has recognized individuals in South Florida who inspire and motivate the people around them to achieve a greater vision of hope and opportunity for those most in need. Just as Trish Bell leads with determination, courage, introspection and faith, Laurie Jennings is passionately committed to representing the best of South Florida, helping to lift others professionally, and leading the way in improving the quality of life and well-being of others.
“We are so fortunate to have Chapman Partnership in our community,” said Jennings. “It’s a safe haven like nowhere else I’ve ever witnessed in other cities. Chapman provides a path forward for families in dire need, and they do it with compassion and dignity. What an honor to be recognized by such an impactful organization and in the name of Trish Bell who actively changes lives every day.”
Jennings is a distinguished journalist and philanthropist whose career spans three decades, earning her six Emmy Awards and a place in the prestigious NATAS Silver Circle. Her journey has taken her from Cleveland and Boston to MSNBC in New York, and ultimately, to Miami, where she became one of South Florida’s most trusted news anchors. Through Laurie Jennings LIVE, her own media company, she is a sought-after host, moderator, and commercial spokesperson. Corporations worldwide look to Laurie for keynote speaking and executive coaching.
Jennings has also dedicated herself to philanthropy, supporting organizations including Chapman Partnership, Voices for Children, United Way, Baptist Hospital, The American Red Cross, Holtz Children’s Hospital, and Sylvester Cancer Center. She and her husband are the proud parents of 19-year-old identical twin boys, both freshmen at Laurie’s alma mater, Cornell University.
Brett Graff is SocialMiami.com’s managing editor and has been a journalist covering money, people and power for over 20 years. Graff contributes to national media outlets including Reuters, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, Maxim, and the PBS show, Nightly Business Report. A former U.S. government economist, her nationally syndicated column The Home Economist is first published in The Miami Herald and then on the Tribune Content Agency, where it’s available to over 400 publications nationwide. She is broadcast weekly on two iHeartRadio news shows and is the author of “Not Buying It: Stop Overspending & Start Raising Happier, Healthier, More Successful Kids,” a parenting guide for people who might be tempted to buy their children the very obstacles they’re trying to avoid.
