Two major donors and board members of Rochester, N.Y., dual licensee WXXI died Sept. 5 after their plane crashed in the ocean off the coast of Jamaica. Both were 68.
Larry and Jane Glazer
Larry and Jane Glazer, major figures in Rochester’s business community who both served on WXXI’s board and co-chaired the station’s $17 million Go Public capital campaign, were flying their single-engine plane from Rochester to Naples, Fla., when their aircraft became unresponsive. Larry, a registered pilot, was at the controls.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command, which shadowed the plane after the pilot became unresponsive, reported seeing the pilot slumped over and the windows frosted, usually a sign of decompression.
“They were the kind of people who you truly would say believed in doing well by doing good,” WXXI President Norm Silverstein told Current. “My wife and I feel we lost two of our best friends in Rochester.”
Larry Glazer was CEO of the real estate firm Buckingham Properties, which owns and manages more than 60 properties. Silverstein would consult him on station real-estate matters, including the station’s 2011 purchase of Little Theatre, a local arthouse cinema. Larry’s wife Jane owned the catalog company QCI Direct and was to be inducted into the Rochester Business Hall of Fame this fall.
The two were avid aviators and owned a second home in Naples. Larry was serving on WXXI’s board at the time of his death; Jane had served previously.
As co-chairs of the Go Public campaign, the Glazers oversaw the private fundraising phase of the largest capital campaign in WXXI history. It has raised $13.5 million in commitments, with a projected goal of $17 million. The station intends to put the money toward new programming initiatives, equipment and technology investment, continued preservation of the Little Theatre, and other capital uses.
WXXI has yet to set a date for the campaign’s public phase, which will raise the remainder of the funds. The campaign will regroup, Silverstein said.
“We’re confident that we’re going to finish this campaign, because that’s what they would have wanted us to do,” he said.
WXXI will continue with previously scheduled plans to honor the Glazers in November as the station’s Associates of the Year, an award granted to donors who have given at least $1,200 annually to the station. The Glazers gave well beyond that, Silverstein said.
As a tribute, the station will also rebroadcast an interview Silverstein conducted with the couple in 2013.