Meet Joan Feinstein – a long time volunteer to the Rye Brook Community!!!
Where are you from originally and how long have you lived in town?
We moved to Rye Brook in 1982, just a few months before the vote to incorporate Rye Brook as a village. I was brought up in Cedarhurst on Long Island.
Child(ren) and Age(s)?
Our son Ross is 39.
One thing people would be surprised to know about you…
I was very shy as a child.
Anyone special you’d like to thank for helping you through parenthood?
My husband, Paul, my parents, my sister and my Rye Brook friends.
Favorite things to do with your kids?
It’s been a long time since Ross was a child! Since both my husband and son are avid skiers, we enjoyed many ski vacations. Looking back, perhaps some of our favorite times with Ross were just talking and playing with him in an unstructured way.
Are you involved in a business venture, a local organization, a creative endeavor, or in the corporate world? Please share!
I still practice law as a corporate attorney and counsel to the law firm Wertheimer Fredman, LLC in White Plains. I currently serve on the Board and as Secretary of the League of Women Voters of Rye, Rye Brook and Port Chester, I am member of the Board of Assessment Review of the Town of Rye and I am co-chair of the Advisory Council of SPRYE, Inc., a local charity that provides services and programs to seniors.
How has this community been instrumental in getting you to where you are now?
I consider myself to be a community activist, a role that I could only achieve with the encouragement and support of Rye Brook residents. I have volunteered in a myriad of ways. I was the first woman Mayor of Rye Brook (and as of now, the only woman Mayor) from 2008-2013 and from 2004-2008 was Deputy Mayor and a trustee of the Village Board. I was a member of the Blind Brook Board of Education from 1993-1999 and served as President for two years. Before being elected to the Village Board, I was a member of the Village’s Zoning Board of Appeals.Serving in various capacities I have met many Rye Brook residents (as well as residents of neighboring communities) of all age levels which has certainly enhanced my community experience. I believe in the words of social activist Marian Wright Edelman that “service is the rent we pay for living.”