At 3:30 Sunday afternoon, a tall, self-assured, familiar-looking woman, with an elegant gentleman on her arm, her fiancé, strode into the Culver Hotel.
From her 5-foot-10 perch, she had to gaze down rather than up as she planted a friendly welcome greeting on Marcus Tiggs, City Council candidate and host of a lavish fundraiser.
Janice Dickinson, one of those public personalities famous for being famous, was so instantly recognizable because she is billed as America’s first supermodel.
Stepping outdoors, away from the 1940s band music, Ms. Dickinson explained how she came to be a guest at Mr. Tiggs’s showcase event.
“To be honest, I met Marcus for a financial matter,” said the 61-year-old Brooklyn native. “I had him help me three years ago with my bankruptcy.
“From the start, I got a sense of calm and security from him. He is all business.”
Ms. Dickinson is as excitable, assertive and outgoing as Mr. Tiggs is soft-spoken, almost shy.
Sometimes she speaks in charming headlines.
“This was a very difficult period for me. But Marcus held my hand, along with my fiancé, Dr. Robert Gerner.
“I found Marcus to be courteous, so honest, down right to the point. He held my hand through all of this.”
Ms. Dickinson said Mr. Tiggs is a successful bankruptcy lawyer “because once he says something, he goes after it. He does not back down.
“I trusted him. I wanted to know more about him. When I found out Marcus was running for City Council, I thought that if more people like Marcus were in politics, the world would be a better place to live.”
In case she was not sufficiently emphatic, Ms. Dickinson said again, “Marcus is just a great guy.”
