ICD - International Center for the Disabled

On October 27, 2011, ICD - International Center for the Disabled proudly renamed its building, the Margaret Milbank Bogert Pavilion at ICD to honor Mrs. Bogert's memory and extraordinary legacy of devoted leadership, generosity and service to ICD, and also to the field of rehabilitation as a whole.

Mrs. Bogert, daughter of ICD's founder Jeremiah Milbank, Sr., was known to all as Margie. She began volunteering at ICD in her teens, serving meals to clients, assisting with recreational activities, and helping vocational graduates obtain job interviews. As a young adult, she worked with paraplegics and people with cerebral palsy and polio, teaching them to use crutches and to learn daily living skills to increase their independence. She loved the clients - and the feeling was mutual.

Margie joined the Board of Trustees in 1942, served as Vice-President from 1956 to 1961, as President from 1961 to 1964, and as Board Chair from 1964 to 1991. She became Honorary Board Chair in 1991 and served in that capacity until her death in 2002. Over the course of 60 years, she played an important role in bringing attention and resources to the concerns of people with disabilities, altering public perceptions and affecting thousands of lives directly and deeply.

The Milbank and Bogert families have sustained a philanthropic tradition for more than nine decades, beginning in 1917 when Jeremiah Milbank, Sr. established ICD as the first outpatient rehabilitation center in  the United States. The tradition continued under the leadership of Jeremiah Milbank, Jr. and Margie Milbank Bogert, and into the third generation under the leadership of Jeremiah M. Bogert and Jeremiah Milbank, III, and The JM Foundation and the Milbank Foundation for Rehabilitation. Together they helped to pioneer the field of physical rehabilitation, and over the years they have developed and supported countless innovative efforts - all with the goal of enhancing the lives and advancing the status of individuals living with disabilities.

We are grateful to the Milbank and Bogert families and to the Milbank Foundation for Rehabilitation for their groundbreaking vision and ongoing generosity that support ICD's mission of helping people with disabilities improve their health and achieve the greatest independence possible.