The Orange County Citizens Foundation has announced that Newburgh resident Tom Weddell has been named the 2012 Ruth and James Ottaway Medal recipient. Mr. Weddell will be honored with the prestigious quality of life award at a dinner reception on April 26th in Central Valley. The public is invited to attend. Mr. Weddell was born and raised in Orange County and is now the managing partner of the accounting firm Vanacore, DeBenedictus, DiGovanni and Weddell. “Tom’s passion for Orange County has been a driving force in our community,” said Citizens Foundation Chairman Paul Ernenwein. “He always strive to improve quality of life Orange County and never shies away from the hard work necessary to get the job done.” Mr. Weddell’s volunteer leadership roles are vast, serving in community-wide organizations like the United Way, the Orange County Citizens Foundation, the Newburgh Volunteer Ambulance Corps, the Greater Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce, as well as their Chamber Foundation, SUNY New Paltz School of Business Advisory Board, Mid-Hudson Pattern for Progress, and the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan Counties. In 2005, Mr. Weddell was honored as the Business Person of the Year for the SUNY New Paltz Hall of Fame awards. He is a 1996 graduate of the Leadership Orange Program and received that organization’s leadership award in 2008. He was recently honored with the Urbach Leadership Award. The Ottaway Medal is named in honor of Ruth and James Ottaway Sr. who set the bar for local community involvement years ago. The couple helped to found the Citizens Foundation and also lent personal and financial support to many other community treasures. Corporate sponsors of the Ottaway Medal Dinner are the Ottaway Family and Crystal Run Healthcare. Sponsorship opportunities are available at a number of different levels. Tickets to the event cost $100 for Citizens Foundation members and $110 for nonmembers. For more information, contact Nancy Proyect at 845-469-9459.