FrontDesk
New York State Supreme Court Justice Robert Antonacci with his son, Bobby, left, wife Michelle, right center, and daughter, Jackie, right.
Thanks, Bob! Loyal Supporter of Association Moves on to New York State Supreme Court BY BRUCE W. KRUPKE, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NDFA
2019 was certainly a very busy one for us from a legislative and lobbying perspective, and 2020 will be even more so. I’ll provide timely updates on lobbying and introduced laws and regulation to members during the legislative season (Take a look at my legislative report on page 8 of this issue). Keep up-to-date on the laws affecting your state by utilizing our website’s “Member’s Only” legislative links to bills being introduced by individual states. Visit www.nedairyfoods.org, and sign in to learn more. Ok, so who is Bob, and why am I thanking him? Well, it began more than 25 years ago when I first met Robert (Bob) E. Antonacci II when he graduated from Syracuse University’s law school in 1993 and passed the bar exam. I was hired by the Northeast Dairy Foods Association in January 1992, and one of my first initiatives later that year was to find a lawyer to assist us in our board meetings. For associations that ask members (many of whom are competitors) to sit in a room 6 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.
and set policy, it is very important that there is legal counsel present to prevent any potential anti-trust conversations. That is when our association’s board of directors took my recommendation to hire Bob as our legal counsel to help guide us. Who would have known at that time the trusted relationship that would develop over all these years and where it would take Bob on his career path? Bob and I were much younger then and excited to get moving and active. We both shared the same vision to help revive the association and make it what it is today. I remember when Bob attended our first convention after his hire. It was at a resort where they provided individual cabins. Well, Bob was assigned to one of these, and he happily agreed to host an after-dinner poker game with a bunch of our supplier members. He didn’t know how to play poker, and let me just say, the wolves were salivating. There were some good drinks and cigars introduced during the game,
