Courtesy Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce
The Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce will present Tom Roohan, principal broker and president of Roohan Realty in Saratoga Springs with the 2019 Joseph Dalton Community Service Award.
The award will be presented at the Chamber’s 101st annual dinner on Thursday, Jan. 24 at the Saratoga Springs City Center,
Roohan is just the second person to be presented the award. The first was presented at the Chamber’s 100th annual dinner last year to Steve “Sully” Sullivan, owner of the Olde Bryan Inn and Longfellows Inn & Conference Center.
“We were looking to honor and recognize people who, for more than 25 years, have been forward deployed, meaning they’ve contributed to the community by volunteering their time, energy, and expertise not just their money,” said Brian Straughter, 2018 chairman of the board of directors.
Roohan has volunteered for dozens of organizations over the past 40 years with his first volunteer experience coming as a life guard for the Saratoga YMCA, in 1971. His first leadership role as a volunteer was as a bingo captain for Saratoga Central High School, coordinating monthly tournaments to raise money for the school. Recently, he was honored by the American Red Cross as a Real Hero for donating 94 pints of blood and encouraging other family, friends, and coworkers to join him at local blood donation events.
Roohan currently volunteers on the Saratoga Hospital board of directors, the NYRA Local Advisory Board and the Saratoga Springs Special Assessment District. He is the volunteer chair of both the Luther Forest Technology Campus and the Saratoga Springs City Center Authority. He is a past president of the Saratoga Central High School board of directors; a past president of the Saratoga Hospital Foundation; past president of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick; a member of the Saratoga County Planning Board; a YMCA Trustee; and was named the 1998 Leadership Saratoga Distinguished Alumni award winner.
Born and raised in Saratoga Springs, Roohan studied civil engineering at Norwich University before becoming a second-generation fixture in his family’s real estate business. With more than 35 years of experience in the real estate industry, his career has included award-winning historic renovation and urban development projects, and past honors as Realtor of the Year (1989) and president of the Saratoga County Association of Realtors (1989-90). He was named the 2018 Realtor of the Year by the Greater Capital Region Association of Realtors.
“We’re excited to present this special award to Tom Roohan as we kick off the Chamber’s next century of community leadership at our annual dinner,” said Straughter. “Tom is one of those local volunteer leaders and business owners that I admire and respect immensely because he is always so giving of his time to so many causes, organizations, and individuals.”
Dalton was the President of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce for 40 years, from 1970 to 2010 when he retired.
“As we looked back at the accomplishments of the Saratoga County Chamber over the past 100 years, the work done during Joe’s tenure accounted for the vast majority of the top achievements,” said Todd Shimkus, president of the Saratoga County Chamber. “Joe led this organization for 40 percent of the time our Chamber has been in existence and the work he did has helped establish Saratoga County as one of the best places in the U.S. to live, work and play. We thought the creation of the Joseph Dalton Community Service Award was a perfect way to honor our past, to recognize Joe’s amazing contributions, and to pay all of this forward by honoring other ‘servant leaders’ at every one of our future annual dinners.”