Marcy Syms was honored by Women’s eNews at the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century 2015 award dinner at the JW Marriott Essex House in New York City on May 5, 2015. Syms and 20 other leaders were chosen for their local, national, and global impact on the lives of women and girls.

Women’s eNews said of Marcy , “As a founder and trustee of the Sy Syms Foundation since 1995, Syms has repeatedly demonstrated her commitment to a wide range of issues affecting women and girls, from health research parity to the need for the Equal Rights Amendment.

Heart disease is a cause that is “so personal” to Syms because she lost a sister, 37, and a brother, 45, to heart attacks, while two of her other brothers are heart attack survivors. The American Heart Association named her a co-chair of the 2015 fundraising campaign for its “Go Red for Women” New York campaign. Syms is pushing for medical research on how statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs, affect the bodies of post-menopausal women.

To that end, Syms helped finance the publication of Jessica Newirth’s book “Equal Means Equal ERA Now,” and is confident it will be our No. 1 issue by 2020 – just 100 years after women in the U.S. got the right to vote. ”

“To me, the most important thing to happen during my lifetime is Roe v. Wade. It made it law that women had a choice in reproduction” she said of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 abortion decision. “Now we need gender neutrality in our constitution.”  – Marcy Syms