Bob and Dianne Yamin to be honored with WCSU community service award

The first time I had a long conversation with Bob Yamin he was really mad at me.

I was in charge of the local newspaper newsroom at the time and although I don’t recall how, we had slandered him in some way. He arrived unannounced and I knew what he was going to say. He proceeded to say it and I listened.

In my experience, at the end of most conversations like that, the aggrieved party usually continues to feel angry thoughts toward the newspaper person involved. Forever. No matter what the news person says or does in the future.

Bob was not like that. He appreciated our conversation and when we met again he would greet me warmly. We developed a friendship. He doesn’t yell at me anymore; we just have good conversations.

Dianne Yamin, who is married to Bob, has never yelled at me. You might know her as one of the most gentle, even-tempered people in town. She also is the Judge of Probate, winner of her last six elections and routinely the highest vote-getter every time she runs.

When my wife and I approached Dianne for help resolving paperwork problems associated with the adoption of our daughter, we offered to pay her. She declined, claiming that her responsibilities at the time running the statewide probate judge organization required her to give legal advice for free in such situations.

Dianne and I are friends, too.

My feelings toward the Yamins, however, have nothing to do with their selection for the Community Service Award given annually by the Western Connecticut State University Foundation. The ceremony begins at 11:30 a.m. this Friday, March 25, at The Matrix.

If you, too, have positive feelings for the Yamins, this would be a good time to show it.

Bob and Dianne are two of the people who hold the community together.

Bob is a proud, third-generation member of Danbury's large Lebanese community.  He graduated from WCSU in 1979 at the top of his class, completing a double major in history and political science in two years with a 4.0 GPA.  He was accepted at the Harvard Law School, where he earned his law degree, the first Western alumnus to achieve that distinction.

Bob is the managing partner of Yamin & Yamin. Since 2002 he has also served as the city of Danbury’s corporation counsel and chief legal officer.

From 1991 to 1995 Bob served as the Republican leader on the Danbury City Council, and sat on the Republican State Central Committee for 15 years. In January, he was elected to the board of directors of the Lebanon American Club in Danbury and he recently joined the board of the WCSU Foundation.

Dianne, a third-generation Danburian, is a graduate of Lehigh University and the Mercer University School of Law.

She is a partner at Yamin & Yamin, served as President Judge of the Connecticut Probate Assembly, as chair of the Mayor’s Task Force of the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness and in 2010 was elected the chair of the board of directors of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of the advisory board for the WCSU Institute for Financial Literacy and in December was named a corporator for Savings Bank of Danbury.

Bob and Dianne have two children, Rebecca and Samantha, both WCSU graduates.

Plus, as you know, they’re nice people.

For reservations and additional information to the luncheon in honor of the Yamins, contact Sue Wolf of the WCSU Office of Institutional Advancement at wolfs@wcsu.edu or (203) 837-8279.