In the Community
Amy Pesesky Honored with Barron F. Black Community Builder Award
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| Amy Pesesky is pictured with an original oil painting by Norfolk artist Janice Gay Maker. She was presented with the painting during the 2017 Barron F. Black Community Builder Awards reception. |
Amy Pesesky is a lot like the late Barron F. Black. She also is a Norfolk, Virginia attorney who excels in connecting clients with lasting ways to benefit their region while being generous herself.
That is why the Hampton Roads Community Foundation recently honored Amy with the 2017 Barron F. Black Community Builder Award. The award is named for the foundation’s first board chair who served from 1950 until his death in 1974.
During an awards reception, she was celebrated by family, friends and colleagues. This is the 11th year the community foundation has presented the award to a professional advisor who demonstrates a dedication to philanthropy that improves lives in Hampton Roads.
Amy specializes in estate planning at the law firm she founded in Norfolk in 2008. She chose trusts and estates as her area of expertise because she “likes helping people find ways to be charitable and enjoys helping a variety of clients with different interests.”
Over the years Amy has helped several clients establish charitable legacies that reflect their passions. Among them is Margot Barnhardt, a retired nurse who traveled from North Carolina to surprise Amy at the awards reception. Amy helped Margot create four special funds at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation that reflect the interests of her late husband, E.C., son William and daughter Diane as well a fund for women and children that honors her friend Virginia Dietrich Williams.
Amy has a heart for families and children and serves on the board of ForKids Inc. She is an advocate for philanthropy and the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. She is a member of both the Professional Advisors Committee and Community Leadership Partners giving group at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.
Each year, the Barron F. Black award recipient is presented with a special piece of art created by an artist affiliated with the D’Art Center in downtown Norfolk. Amy received an original oil painting created by Norfolk artist Janice Gay Maker that captures a family enjoying a stroll across the bridge at Norfolk Botanical Garden.
Additionally, the foundation awards a special grant to a nonprofit selected by the honoree. Amy chose as the grant recipient ForKids Inc., which works to break the cycle of homelessness for children and families in our region. Thaler McCormick, ForKids CEO, accepted the grant check at the event.
