Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg
Ambassador Leonore Annenberg

Today, we want to honor the Annenberg Foundation, which embodies the vision and compassion of Walter Annenberg and his deep commitment to philanthropy and public service.

Walter Annenberg: distinguished publisher, United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James, founder of The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, founder-trustee of the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships and the Eisenhower Medical Center, emeritus Trustee of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the University of Pennsylvania, and The Peddie School, among others; recipient of many honors and awards, including the National Medal of Arts and the Medal of Freeedom, several years ago you also exhibited your extraordinary faith in education and your belief—shared by Andrew Carnegie—that education is a ladder that can lift up anyone to the greatest heights, by creating the Annenberg Challenge Grant, the largest single gift ever made to American public education. This $500 million program of challenge grants—which generated over a billion dollars in matching funds—was designed to energize, support and replicate successful K through 12 school reform programs throughout the country and celebrated our national conviction that a democratic society has an obligation to educate all students well, especially in light of the economic realities of the new century. Like no other individual act by an American citizen, the Annenberg Challenge Grant program announced, with pride and conviction, that education was the number one priority of our country and signaled our abiding faith in a future of hope and promise for all Americans.

And Leonore Annenberg: committed philanthropist, dedicated civic leader, patron of the fine arts, and ambassador for all that embodies the spirit and hope of America, working side-by-side with your husband and partner of fifty years, you have served and continue to serve with distinction on the boards of some of this country’s most important institutions, including the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the University of Pennsylvania and, of course, the Annenberg Foundation. During your husband’s tenure as United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James you brought your distinctive taste, style and elegance to the royal court and later, in Washington, D.C., served your country with the same grace and diplomacy in the capacity of Chief of Protocol, with the rank of Ambassador. You have been nationally celebrated as a great champion of the arts and of education and recognized internationally with awards from the governments of Italy and the Netherlands. For Great Britain, you created the American Friends of Covent Garden; for the United States, you have worked tirelessly on behalf of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House. And always, you have woven together the themes of art and education, culture and public service, knitting together a tapestry of honor, service and vision that puts your nation and many others around the world, deeply in your debt.

For all you have done for your fellow citizens of the United States and the world, the 21 institutions created by Andrew Carnegie present the inaugural Andrew Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy to you with pride and admiration.