Martin D. Schwartz, president and CEO of The Kennedy Center in Trumbull, was presented with the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Connecticut Community Providers Association (CCPA) on Dec. 12 at the organization’s annual dinner.  The Kennedy Center is a not-for-profit rehabilitation agency that provides vocational, residential, educational, therapeutic, social and recreational programs to more than 1800 children and adults with disabilities throughout the state of Connecticut.

On hand to congratulate Martin D. Schwartz (center) at the Connecticut Community Providers Association Dec. 10 dinner were (left to right): Peter Carbine, vice president of residential services at The Kennedy Center; Elaine Schwartz, Martin’s wife; Matthew Rehyer, president and CEO of ARI in Stamford, and his wife, Valerie Reyher, vice president of rehabilitation services at The Kennedy Center.

“Marty has been a member of CCPA for over thirty years and he has been a leader in the Association for most of that time,” said Terry Edelstein, president/CEO of CCPA. “He has served in almost every official capacity that CCPA has to offer and was elected to several cycles on the board of directors and was board chair.”
Head of The Kennedy Center for more than 30 years, under his leadership the agency received its first three-year accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities in 1981.  Since then it has become an award-winning accredited center that is ranked in the top 1% of agencies in the country.
Schwartz began his career as a rehabilitation therapist with Children’s Village in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. and went on to work as the director of the adult division of the Rockland County Association for Retarded Citizens in New York.
Among his many appointments, Schwartz served as commissioner on the Mayor’s Commission on Handicapped in Bridgeport and as chairman of the United Way of Eastern Fairfield County Member Agency Campaign. He is currently a member of the Trumbull Commission on Accessibility Handicap Compliance Board.
The recipient of numerous awards, Schwartz has received  the United Way of Eastern Fairfield County Outstanding Leadership Award; the Connecticut Association of Rehabilitation Facilities Leadership Award; and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Bridgeport.
Schwartz lives in Trumbull and is a member of Congregation B’nai Israel in Bridgeport.