|
|
ONLY
IN AMERICA
Didn’t
Finish School
But Gets Education Award
By
Tim Boxer
|
FTER Donald M.
Landis introduced honoree Eugene M. Grant at the
25th anniversary dinner of the American Friends
of the Open University of Israel, Grant responded: “This
introduction is so overwhelming and effusive, I stand in awe
of myself.”
Held at the Rainbow
Room in Rockefeller Center, the event honored Grant for his
charitable work within the real estate world. He is also
active in the cultural affairs of New York, serving on the
real estate council of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Irwin Hochberg
who, with Ingeborg Rennert, serves as event co-chair,
said, “Anytime he wants, Eugene Grant devotes himself to
the arts. He even has a piano in his office.”
As a former general
chairman of UJA/Federation of New York, Grant told of an
occasion he was at the podium of a fund-raiser. A man raised
his hand and pledged $10,000.
“I cannot accept
your pledge,” Grant said.
“Why not?” the
man demanded.
“Three years ago
you pledged $10,000 and we had to take you to court to
collect.”
“That’s okay.
I’m pledging $10,000 plus court costs.”
The second honoree
was Ernest W. Michel. Here was a man who was kicked
out of school due to Nazi policy in his native Germany, and
came to the U.S. after surviving 11 forced labor camps. In
1947 he joined the staff of United Jewish Appeal, became its
executive director in 1970 and served until he retired in
1989.
It was amazing, he
said, that with only a seventh grade education he was able
to lead the greatest Jewish organization in the country.
And
here he was, receiving the Max Rowe Educational Leadership
Award from Hochberg. Only in America!
|
