Top scouts recognized at annual Eagle Scout Banquet

The 144 young people who achieved the highest rank in the BSA in 2022 were recognized Tuesday, January 10, at the Seneca Waterways Council’s annual Eagle Scout Dinner, held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Rochester.

Along with saluting their individual and collective achievements and impact, the Council also recognized retired local businessman and Holocaust survivor Steven Hess with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. Mr. Hess is one of only 18 in the entire United States to receive this award in 2022.

“The trail to becoming an Eagle Scout requires perseverance and leadership and embodies the highest ideals of the Scouting program,” says Stephen Hoitt, CEO of Seneca Waterways Council. “We are proud to bring these young people together with adult mentors in the community to celebrate their remarkable success. Collectively, these young people gave leadership to 144 separate and unique service projects with a reported 21,617 volunteer service hours and engaging over 2,800 volunteers. When multiplied by the current value of a volunteer service hour, that’s nearly $650,000 of value to the community.”

Each attending Eagle Scout was matched with an adult mentor at the dinner who shared his or her vocation and provided some life coaching to these young people. Approximately 390 Scouts, mentors and parents attended, making this the largest event since before the pandemic began.

Steven Hess has been named a Distinguished Eagle Scout upon nomination by the Seneca Waterways Council and the Boy Scouts of America. The award is granted to Eagle Scouts who, after 25 years, have distinguished themselves in their life work and have voluntarily shared their talents with their communities.

Hess has distinguished himself by dedicating himself to the causes of education and awareness of the Holocaust and the history of global antisemitism.

“Steven Hess is an inspiration for all of us and we are so very proud to have successfully nominated him for this lifetime achievement,” says Hoitt. “Dr. David Munson from RIT, a Distinguished Eagle Scout himself, chaired a panel of past award recipients who helped us choose our nominees.”

The Distinguished Eagle Scout Award was implemented in 1969. Since that time nearly 2,000 have been approved out of 2.7 million Eagle Scout ranks.
The Eagle Scout Dinner was made possible thanks to sponsors including the Palmer Family of Companies, M&T Bank, a gift from Mr. & Mrs. Steven Hess, and The Saunders Foundation. A dozen local businesses stepped up as table sponsors to underwrite the event and the investment in helping more young people achieve the rank of Eagle Scout.

The Seneca Waterways Council, Boy Scouts of America delivers Scouting’s mission of character development and leadership training to over 6,000 families throughout Monroe, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne and Yates counties. For more information about Seneca Waterways Council, visit https://www.senecawaterways.org.

About Mr. Steven Hess
Steven Hess (Stefan) and his twin, Marion, were born in Amsterdam, Holland, on January 14, 1938, two years after their parents fled Nazi Germany for the presumed safety of the Netherlands.

After the Nazi invasion on May 10, 1940, the family was eventually sent first to the Westerbork deportation camp and, later, from there to the infamous Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In late April 1945, after two weeks on a cattle car train, later remembered in history as “The Lost Transport,” they were liberated by Russian troops near the village of Troebitz in eastern Germany. Of the approximately 2,500 prisoners on the train, more than 600 had died on the train or shortly thereafter. Hess and his sister were among the very few twins to have survived the concentration camps and are now among the last survivors. The family eventually returned to Holland. They immigrated to the United States, arriving in New York on January 1, 1947.

Mr. Hess achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in Post 207, Queens, NY, on March 18, 1955. His medal was presented by the wife of then NYC Mayor Robert Wagner. Among other adventures in Scouting, Mr. Hess attended Ten Mile River Scout Reservation.

A graduate of Columbia College, Class of 1960, Mr. Hess majored in American history. He served on active duty with the U.S. Navy for four years (1960-1964), first as a line officer on board a destroyer and later as Press Officer for the Third Naval District. He separated from the service with the rank of Lieutenant.

Following military service, he was initially employed at The New York Times, then as a public relations specialist with the Western Electric Company. In 1967 he joined Berkey Photo and served in a variety of assignments leading to eventually becoming president of their professional manufacturing division.

In 1975, Mr. Hess moved to Rochester, having purchased a six-person photographic equipment manufacturing company. The company grew to be one of the most successful and recognized U.S. manufacturers and distributors of photographic accessories, reaching $16 million in annual revenue with more than 80 employees. Mr. Hess sold the business in 1998.

He has lectured frequently on the Holocaust throughout the Rochester school systems and at upstate NY colleges and universities. He has served on the Rochester Boards of PBS, the area Humane Society, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mr. Hess is married to Sarah D. Atkinson, MD, founder, and director of Finger Lakes Clinical Research. He was the Chief Financial Officer of her company from its founding until he retired in 2019.

The National Eagle Scout Association of the Boy Scouts of America formally awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award to Steven Hess on December 2, 2022.
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