The grand tradition of the “Heart’s Delight” Vintners Dinner was lifted to another level Friday evening as guests raised their glasses to honor dinner Chairman Constance Milstein.
Milstein and her husband, Jehan-Christophe de La Haye Saint Hilaire, are long-time benefactors of the American Heart Association.
David Markiewicz, the Executive Vice President of the AHA, praised Milstein’s dedication and generous support of heart research, and highlighted the pivotal role she played in gathering the supporters at the annual event.
Milstein friend and President Obama’s HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Ambassador Capricia Marshall joined her at the table, as well as Ambassador of Monaco Gilles Norghes and his wife Ellen, and the new deficit czar Bruce Reed and his wife, Bonnie LePard.
CBS News White House Correspondent Bill Plante emceed the evening. The sparkly crowd included Betsey Apple, Dee Dee Myers and Todd Purdum, John Coale, the Washington Post’s new Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Kathleen Parker, ABC News’ reporter Jonathan Karl.
FOX News’ Bret Baier recounted his infant son’s multiple heart surgeries to the spellbound crowd (including his wife, Amy). The Baier’s family story inspired the wine auction that followed, raising some $50,000 for research.
The Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium was aglow as some 400 guests dined on a six-course meal accompanied by distinguished wines from Château Margaux.