North Shore Towers Keeps Residents Busy All Year Round
Fred Chernow, 10 year North Shore Towers
resident and Board of Directors member
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I FEBRUARY 2020 21
When you live at North Shore Towers and
Country Club, you don’t have to go very far
to find something to do all year round thanks
to the wide variety of amenities and social
activities made available to residents.
Just ask Fred Chernow, who’s been a
resident there for 10 years and has served
on the North Shore Towers Board of Directors
for eight of those years. In that time, he has
coordinated many events for residents.
“I’ve been elected four times to four two-year
terms,” he said, noting he’s “involved in many
things and the residents see me all the time.”
For one thing, Chernow pointed out he
originated a program with Manhattan’s 92nd
Street Y in which, after public figures speak at
the Y, North Shore Towers is able to stream the
presentations a few weeks later to residents
without any admission fee.
For example, United States Supreme Court
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was interviewed
at the Y in the fall by David Rubenstein, a
founder and co-executive chairman of The
Carlyle Group.
The stream of that event was “so popular
that I had to do it twice – once at 4:30 for
a packed house and then again at 7:30,”
Chernow recalled.
North Shore Towers has also presented
“lighter things from the Y,” including
presentations with actor Alan Alda and others
with authors, Chernow noted.
Each year, there are also special programs
that he’s involved with. For example, each
November, North Shore Towers holds a salute
to veterans, in which local members of the
military are invited and there are patriotic songs
in their honor, he noted, pointing out there are
several veterans who live there who fought in
World War II, the Korean War and other wars.
“It’s really a lovely evening,” he said.
Pointing out that each North Shore Towers
board member has a responsibility, he
said: “I’m in charge of screening” people
who want to move to North Shore Towers,
“to see if they fit in” to the co-op’s lifestyle.
As chairman of the board’s screening
committee for the past six years, each month
he selects a different board member to help
him interview the 10-12 applicants there
typically are, he said. Then, at the next board
meeting, he gives his recommendations to
the full board, which votes on the applicants.
“Since I’ve been in charge of screening,
we have admitted a more diverse group
of applicants” than in years past, he said,
many who “shop in our stores and they’re
very active members who participate in
many things” at North Shore Towers.
“Fred Chernow moving here was a
tremendous addition to the North Shore
Towers and Country Club community,”
said North Shore Towers General Manager
Glen Kotowski, adding: “He hosts many
professional programs for our residents and
has been provided continuity to our Board
of Directors with his many years of service.
We are fortunate to someone of his stature
choosing to live and serve here.”
Chernow, meanwhile, is also an author who
has written several books. “The most popular
one, that Oprah Winfrey liked, is called ‘The
Sharper Mind’ – it’s how older people can do
exercises that will improve their memory,” he
pointed out, adding: “Because of this book,
I’ve been invited” to lecture “on cruise ships
around the world.” Published by Prentice
Hall, it’s available for sale on Amazon.com.
Chernow also writes for the North Shore
Towers Courier newspaper.
After serving as a New York City school
principal for 37 years, he retired, but
continued to teach at St. John’s University,
he told us.
Chernow lived in Westbury 19 years before
moving to North Shore Towers, and he’s been
really happy to make the move, he said. “I
love it. It’s just a perfect place for me,” he
said, pointing to the arcade/mall that connects
all three residential buildings and includes a
bank, a movie theater, two restaurants, a
supermarket, a dry cleaner, a beauty parlor,
a hearing aid center and other stores.
“You really don’t have to leave the
building if you don’t want to because the
mall connects all three buildings,” he said,
explaining: “I live in building one. I have a
lady friend in building three. If it’s snowing
outside, I could visit her in shirt sleeves. I just
take the elevator down to the arcade in my
building. I walk to the other end, which is
building three. I get in her elevator and I’m
up there in maybe five minutes altogether.”
Plus, “when it’s very hot, the arcade is airconditioned,”
he pointed out, noting he
regularly gets exercise by walking around the
arcade and using the club’s gym, as well as
using the indoor pool and two outdoor pools
in the summer.
“There are wonderful facilities here and you
really don’t have to leave,” he said, adding:
“It’s just a great place to live. And there are
many clubs. I’m part of the men’s club. We
meet monthly. We have speakers. We go on
trips. We go to ballgames.” There are also
a women’s club, card clubs, Mahjong and
much more, he noted.
For more details about the Towers Country
Club or to book a tour, call Mary Anne
Langone, country club manager, at 718-
428-5030 ext. 0.
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