January 1, 1970

Follow this link to read the full remarks of The Churchlll Centre’s Laurence Geller

By Lizzie Simon

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, 30 March 2011 – More than 450 supporters of the Simon Wiesenthal Center gathered for the 2011 Humanitarian Award Dinner. The Medal of Valor was awarded posthumously to Sir Winston Churchill, Hiram Bingham IV and Pope John Paul II, and the Humanitarian Award was given to General Electric Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt.

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Nelson Peltz, Jeffrey Immelt, Rabbi Marvin Hier and Larry Mizel at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Humanitarian Award Dinner.

Before dinner, at a VIP reception on the 36th floor of the Mandarin Oriental, rabbis, philanthropists and award presenters enjoyed cocktails and a view of the setting sun. Laurence Geller, chief executive of Strategic Hotels & Resorts and chairman of the Churchill Centre, was on hand to receive the Prime Minister’s Medal.

“Accepting an award on behalf of Winston Churchill,” he said, “can only make me feel like a midget.” He then told a mostly tasteful dirty joke about a priest and a rabbi together on a train ride. It won’t be repeated here, but it wasn’t entirely off topic, since Pope John Paul II was honored for his legacy of bridging Catholics and Jews. Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Papal Nuncio to the U.S., accepted the award on the pope’s behalf.

“I feel a little bit at home when I am among Jews,” the archbishop said. “I know their history, their beliefs and their hopes for the future. They have given humanity the idea for a spiritual God which has elevated the human spirit.”

But what about their bagels, a reporter asked.

“Well,” he said, “As a good Italian, I always prefer Italian food.”

Robert Bingham accepted the award for his father, a US diplomat who enabled more than 2,500 Jews to escape the Holocaust. He attended the event with his wife, sister, and brother-in-law, a cheerful gang who all wore Hiram Bingham pins. “My father placed humanity above career,” he said. “He believed that there was that of the divinity in every human being. And he left us a lesson, and that is to stand up to evil.”

On the other side of the room, the master of ceremonies, Ann Curry of the ‘Today Show’, was engaged in a serious-looking chat with the founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Marvin Hier, whom she dubbed “the Kevin Bacon of the evening. He knows everyone.” Ms. Curry received a Medal of Honor in 2007, which, she said, meant more to her than any other award she’d received.

After a kosher meal, Nelson Peltz announced that the evening had raised more than $1.6 million, and introduced Mr. Immelt, who was, he said, “first and foremost a mensch.” Mr. Immelt accepted his award with the GE building in view. “There’s something badly wrong about a night when the small awards go to Sir Winston Churchill, Hiram Bingham IV, and Pope John Paul II, and the big award goes to GE and Jeffrey Immelt,” he said.

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