Anti-Defamation League Honors Covington’s Ambassador Eizenstat
May 2, 2012
WASHINGTON, DC, May 2, 2012 — Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat was recognized by the Anti-Defamation League with its inaugural Abraham H. Foxman Exceptional Leadership Award during the ADL’s 2012 Shana Amy Glass National Leadership conference in Washington, D.C. on April 30.
Ambassador Eizenstat received the award in recognition of his long career in public service and his outspoken advocacy for human rights and the welfare of the Jewish people, especially Holocaust victims.
“It is fitting that we pay tribute to Ambassador Eizenstat, whose life and career tell a remarkable story of advocacy for civil and human rights and for the welfare of the Jewish people, especially in fighting for Holocaust victims, at a gathering that celebrates young leadership, engagement and optimism,” said Ronald D. Balser, national commissioner of ADL.
“Of the awards I have been privileged to receive, none has greater meaning than this one,” said Ambassador Eizenstat. “There are three reasons: the persons who endowed the award and are presenting it; the organization extending it; and the person for whom the award is named. My life has been enriched by direct association with each.”
Ambassador Eizenstat served as a Special Representative of the President and Secretary of State on Holocaust-Era issues during the Clinton Administration. He negotiated major agreements with the Swiss, Germans, Austrian and French, and other European countries, covering restitution of property, payment for slave and forced laborers, recovery of looted art, bank accounts, and payment of insurance policies for Holocaust victims.
The award was established by Ronald and Barbara Balser as a tribute to ADL’s longtime national director, Abraham H. Foxman, who for more than four decades has fought the forces of inhumanity and indecency and all forms of prejudice and discrimination.
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.