Jack Lightstone

The St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce has presented Brock President Jack Lightstone with its 2011 Community Leadership Award in recognition of the University’s efforts to help advance the greater Niagara community.

The award was given Oct. 27 at the chamber’s Business Achievement Awards gala, where presenter Phil Ritchie, of Keefer Developments, called Lightstone “a beacon of transformational change.”

The University under Lightstone’s leadership is benefiting the community on numerous levels, Ritchie said. He cited the downtown home for the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, and the Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex, whose business incubator will be “a place where ideas can be turned into profitable businesses that will benefit our children and grandchildren.”

Nancy Diamond, chair of the chamber’s board of directors, said Lightstone “has connected Brock into the economic and social fabric of the community at a time when partnerships are needed if we are to truly build astronger Niagara.”

The recognition belongs “to all my colleagues at Brock,” Lightstone said. “They work very hard to continually find ways to enhance the Niagara community economically, socially, culturally and intellectually, and we will continue to work very hard on that.”