[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 76 (Thursday, June 5, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1125-E1126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONGRATULATING AMBASSADOR RONALD S. LAUDER ON BEING HONORED BY THE 
                EMANUEL FOUNDATION FOR HUNGARIAN CULTURE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 5, 1997

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me in 
congratulating Ambassador Ronald S. Lauder who is being honored June 8, 
1997, at the annual dinner of the Emanuel Foundation for Hungarian 
Culture. Each year the Emanuel Foundation honors outstanding 
individuals whose service to the community and whose dedication to 
teaching current and future generations the history and lessons of the 
Holocaust deserve the highest recognition. Ambassador Lauder's 
unparalleled efforts toward these worthy goals merit our praise. I am 
delighted that the Emanuel Foundation has chosen to honor him this 
year.
  Ambassador Lauder demonstrates his active support for culture and 
education in the United States through his leadership positions in some 
the our most distinguished institutions. He was elected chairman of the 
Board of Trustees of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, serves as a 
trustee for the New York Landmarks Conservancy and the World Monuments 
Fund, and is a member of the Board of Governors of the Joseph H. Lauder 
Institute of Management and International Studies at the University of 
Pennsylvania and the Visiting Committee of the Wharton School.
  Ambassador Lauder's commitment to advancing our Nation's democratic 
and free market principles is underscored by his activities to assist 
in the economic, social, and political transformation of Central and 
Eastern Europe. A leading proponent of private enterprise in that 
region and in the former Soviet states, he is chairman of the Central 
European Development Corp. chairman and primary stockholder of Central 
Media Enterprises, Ltd., and has formed RSL Communications, Inc., a 
company involved exclusively in telecommunications investments. He has 
been involved in such projects as the privatization of Hungary's oldest 
bank, the development of the American Business Center at Checkpoint 
Charlie, and the opening of NOVA TV in Prague, which is the first 
privately owned television station in a former Communist country. 
Through his active involvement the economies of the former Soviet bloc 
and his efforts to build free and private media resources in those 
societies, Ambassador Lauder is making a tremendous contributions to 
the future prosperity and freedom of millions of people in Central and 
Eastern Europe.
  Ambassador Lauder is being honored also for his passionate commitment 
to protecting and teaching Jewish culture and history, and preserving 
the Jewish legacy to the world. He serves as president of the Ronald S. 
Lauder Foundation which he founded in 1987 in response to the need to 
revitalize Jewish life across Central and East Europe where it has been 
devastated by the Holocaust. The foundation supports Jewish schools 
camps and community centers stretching across Eastern Europe from 
Austria to Ukraine.
  Ambassador Lauder has further demonstrated his commitment to Jewish 
education and cultural prosperity by this leadership activities in some 
of the most important Jewish organizations and institutions in American 
and around the world. He is chairman of the International Public 
Committee of the World Jewish Restitution Organization and treasurer of 
the World Jewish Congress. He serves as President of the Jewish 
National Fund, chairman of the Jewish Heritage Council, director of the 
International Board of Governors of the International Society of Yad 
Vashem, member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, member of the 
Board of Directors of the Jewish Theological Seminary, member of the 
Board of Directors of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 
member of the Board of Trustees of the Anti-Defamation League 
Foundation, member of the Board of Trustees of the Abraham Fund, 
chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sakharov Archives at Brandeis 
University, and member of the International Board of Governors of the 
Tel Aviv Museum.
  Mr. Speaker, Ambassador Ronald Lauder is a man of outstanding 
commitment and accomplishment in the noblest of pursuits. His 
contributions to culture, education, and the spreading of democratic 
and free market principles is truly awe inspiring. Through his vast 
commitments to preserving and nurturing Jewish communal life both in 
the United States and in Eastern Europe, Ambassador lauder has made a 
tremendous and enduring contribution to the education of future 
generations about the Holocaust. I applaud the Emanuel Foundation for 
choosing to honor this remarkable American citizen and I invite my 
colleagues to join me in applauding Ambassador Lauder's continuing 
mission.

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