Celebrity News

Lauper tributes uncle lost in Sandy

Cyndi Lauper dedicated a performance of her classic “Time After Time” to her uncle, George Stathis, 90, who was found dead in his Rockaways home on Beach 121st Street following Hurricane Sandy. “I lost my Uncle George in the hurricane,” she said at Lenox Hill’s Autumn Ball, benefiting storm victims, at the Waldorf on Monday. “He was old. He didn’t want to leave his house. I was in Chicago, and I called and said [to relatives], ‘Why did you guys leave him,’ and they just didn’t think it was going to get that bad.” North Shore-LIJ president and CEO Michael Dowling said of employees who lost homes, “We have placed about 160 individuals and families in apartments and empty spaces in the hospitals. History has taught us that life goes on. We grieve, we cope, we mourn, we earn, we rebuild, we never forget, but we move forward.” Event honoree Elie Wiesel added, “We witness a disaster . . . that left so many families abandoned and abandoning whatever they had. If we are not moved by their suffering, how can we even claim to deserve the title of humanity which is ours?”