Emma Lazarus Award 2015 Post Ceremony
2015 Emma Lazarus Statue of Liberty Award
The Board of Trustees of the American Jewish Historical Society was honored to bestow the 2015 Emma Lazarus Statue of Liberty Award on Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr. on November 11, 2015 at The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.
Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. has devoted his adult life to fostering public awareness of Jewish contributions to American society, and to promoting religious freedom and separation of church and state.
Loeb is the founder and chairman of the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom (GWIRF), which sponsors civic education organizations to develop curricula, publications and programs using George Washington’s famous 1790 Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, RI to initiate classroom discussions about religious diversity.
In 2009, GWIRF opened the Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr. Visitors Center on the campus of the Touro Synagogue National Historic Site. Some of Loeb’s ancestors were among the synagogue’s founders. He also created the Loeb Portrait Database of Early American Jewish Portraits, which resides on the American Jewish Historical Society’s website.
Loeb is currently chairman of the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States, a trustee of the American Scandinavian Foundation and a vice chairman of the Council of American Ambassadors. He has been a trustee of the Langeloth Foundation, the Educational Testing Service, American University and served on seven Harvard visiting committees.
For thirty-five years he has been chairman of John L. Loeb, Jr. Associates, Inc., investment counselors. He was chairman of Holly Sugar and a director of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, among other corporations.
From 1981 to 1983, Loeb was the U.S. ambassador to Denmark and received the Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog from Queen Margrethe II. He is also a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), awarded for his work with the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States.
2015 Emma Lazarus Award Dinner Photos
Event Chairs and Honorary Committee
CHAIR
Sharon Handler Loeb
VICE-CHAIRS
Nicholas M. Loeb
Somers Farkas
Arthur Lehman Loeb
HONORARY COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Platinum
Amy Goldman Fowler
Marilyn C. Handler and Family:
Darell M. Handler
Jonathan D. Handler
Dawn Handler Harbart
Arthur Lehman Loeb
Dan Lufkin
Gold
Sidney Lapidus
Nicholas M. Loeb
Bernard Michael and Haina Just-Michael
Mr. and Mrs. E. John Rosenwald
Joseph S. Steinberg
Silver
Catherine Cahill and William Bernhard
The Honorable and Mrs. Stuart Bernstein
George S. Blumenthal
The Clarissa and Edgar Bronfman Jr. Foundation
Susan Fales-Hill
Somers and Jonathan D. Farkas
Gabelli Asset Management Inc.
Gerald and Glenda Greenwald
Bernard Groveman
Yaz and Valentin Hernandez
Roger and Susan Hertog
Ann and Thomas Kempner
Dalia and Larry Leeds
Marina and Andrew Lewin
Loeb Partners Realty LLC
John E. Oden
Louise Rosenfeld
Bruce Slovin
The John and Barbara Vogelstein Foundation
Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III
Sue Ann Weinberg
Hedy Zankel
Ezra K. Zilkha
Previous Laureates
2014 Simon Schama
2013 Avital Sharansky
2012 Harry Ettlinger and the Monuments Men
2011 Ralph Lowenstein and Machal
2010 Seth Lipsky
2009 Kenneth J. Bialkin
2008 Sidney Lapidus
2007 George P. Shultz
2005 Honorable Edward I. Koch
2003 Mortimer B. Zuckerman
2002 Elie Wiesel
2001 Amb. Felix G. Rohatyn
2000 Sanford I. Weill
1999 Henry Kissinger
1998 Beverly Sills
1996 Aaron Feuerstein
1994 Sylvia Hassenfeld
1989 Edgar M. Bronfman
1987 Armand Hammer
1986 Abram L. Sachar