A Manhattan Prelude to a Hamptons Summer: Jean Shafiroff Opens Her Home for SOFO
More than 100 guests gathered at the philanthropist’s New York residence to support the South Fork Natural History Museum ahead of its 37th Annual Summer Gala, where Shafiroff will be among the honorees.
The natural world of the East End rarely makes an appearance in a Manhattan drawing room, but on this evening it was the entire subject of conversation. Jean Shafiroff opened her New York City residence to more than 100 guests for a private cocktail reception in support of the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center, a gathering held in anticipation of the organization’s 37th Annual Summer Gala on July 11, 2026, where Shafiroff will be recognized as one of the honorees.
The room drew from several overlapping circles: SOFO’s leadership team, longtime supporters, and a mix of social figures, fashion designers and business leaders. What united them was an interest in the museum’s central work, which is to cultivate a deeper understanding of the South Fork’s ecology among people of every age. It is patient work, conducted mostly through education rather than advocacy, and it depends on precisely the kind of sustained private support the evening was designed to secure.
The reception’s most formal moment came when Rebecca Seawright presented official citations, recognizing the South Fork Natural History Museum for its contributions to environmental education and conservation, and honoring Shafiroff separately for her leadership within the philanthropic community. The pairing was apt. Institutions of SOFO’s scale survive at the intersection of civic recognition and individual commitment, and both were on display in the same room.
Among the guests were Martin Shafiroff, Andy Sabin, Diana Aceti, Candace Bushnell, Ramona Singer, William McNamara, Greg Lippmann, Ray Iwanowski and Patrick McMullan, a cross-section of the network that has grown around Shafiroff’s philanthropic work and SOFO’s mission alike.
The evening functioned as an opening argument for the summer gala itself, long established as one of the Hamptons’ signature philanthropic events and a significant source of funding for the museum’s educational programs, conservation efforts and community outreach. Based in Bridgehampton, SOFO operates as a family-oriented institution built around exploration and discovery, running exhibits, educational programs, field walks, marine initiatives and citizen science projects that put children, families and adults into direct contact with the environment they are being asked to protect.
Shafiroff’s involvement follows a long pattern. A philanthropist, humanitarian, television host and author of Successful Philanthropy: How to Make a Life by What You Give, she has built a record across women’s rights, healthcare, animal welfare and support for underserved communities. She serves on the boards of the French Heritage Society, Southampton Hospital Foundation, NYC Mission Society, Couture Council of the Museum at FIT, New York Women’s Foundation, Casita Maria, Global Strays and the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation Honorary Board, and contributes as an advisory board member to the Historical Society of Palm Beach County and Ballet Palm Beach.
There is a particular logic to hosting a conservation reception in the city in the weeks before summer. The guests in that room will spend July on the same stretch of coastline SOFO exists to interpret, walking beaches and marshes most of them have never been taught to read. The gala in Bridgehampton will raise the money. The evening in Manhattan supplied the reason.
