Perhaps Stanley Druckenmiller’s Pittsburgh roots led him to be inspired by Andrew Carnegie. Like him, Druckenmiller is known for being fiercely competitive in business (and golf), setting the highest possible standards and pulling out all the stops to succeed. He resembles Carnegie in achieving success at a young age, in his willingness to take significant risks to reap extraordinary returns, and, happily, in his eagerness to use the fruits of his success to make a difference in people’s lives. After many years of generous support to various causes, Druckenmiller went even further, donating an additional $705 million to his family foundation. These funds have already begun to flow out to worthy institutions. One early beneficiary was the Harlem Children’s Zone, an outstanding organization he helped build. He chairs the board of this community-based nonprofit, which serves approximately 17,000 children, combating poverty through education, health care, and job training.

Fiona Druckenmiller, has also had a stellar financial career, and devotes great time and effort to the family’s philanthropy. A trustee of New York University’s Langone Medical Center and a constant advocate for its work, she joined her husband in giving $100 million to launch its Neuroscience Institute, because, as she noted, “Breakthroughs in neuroscience and stem cell research will yield huge benefits in both quality and length of life…. The brain is one of the last great frontiers in medicine, and advances in related research could help both the individual and society function at a higher level.” An ordained interfaith reverend, she is also a member of the leadership council of the New York Stem Cell Foundation and has served on the board of many organizations devoted to education, the arts, human rights, and medical research.

We wholeheartedly applaud Fiona and Stanley Druckenmiller because of the sacrifices they have made, the care and concern they lavish on the causes they espouse, and the example they set by giving of their wealth in the same adventurous spirit with which they earned it.

The mission of the foundation has evolved to meet an ever-changing inventory of local and national needs. But what has never changed is the family’s generosity, manifested in more than $1.2 billion provided through some 4,700 grants that have touched the lives of tens of thousands of Americans. In 1998, knowing that the foundation was not intended to extend into perpetuity, with great foresight the family undertook a new philanthropic venture, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. They dedicated the center to improving nutrition and helping to feed the hungry, to preserving and enhancing the environment, and to making their city the world center for plant science. The foundation’s final endowment grant of $70 million was given to the Plant Science Center to help fulfill that promise.

Dr. William Danforth, is recognized as an esteemed physician and exceptional professor of medicine and as the chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis, an institution he guided to national stature and to which he remains committed today. John Danforth, is a dedicated public servant, who for eighteen years was a preeminent senator from the state of Missouri. A gifted statesman, he was appointed special envoy to Sudan and later represented the United States as Ambassador to the United Nations, where he focused on ending the twenty-year civil war in Sudan. Dr. William Danforth and Senator John Danforth, are acknowledged for their individual accomplishments as well as the family’s longstanding and exemplary work in philanthropy.

The Crown family’s generosity has extended to the arts, civic affairs, education, environmental projects, health, human services, and Jewish causes. From numerous basic research programs at Israeli institutions to the public school system in Chicago, their concern for others extends to more than 600 institutions annually. While their outreach is broad, their efforts consistently focus on building opportunities for others and addressing the needs of individuals at risk.

Through the decades, the family’s legacy of commitment to the care of others has been passed on to their children and grandchildren. Today even the great-grandchildren of Arie and Ida Crown are involved in helping to ensure continuation of the work all four generations have embraced as a core value of the family. We greatly esteem the social contract of engagement, trust, and participation by which they address the need for social change. On behalf of the many individuals and organizations that benefit from
their unflagging generosity, we honor the kindness and the steadfast commitment of the Crown family.

Through the work of the Vehbi Koç Foundation, the first private foundation in Turkey and now one of Europe’s largest, he has sought to improve the quality of Turkey’s healthcare system, to advance the country’s education and to promote the cultural resources of Turkey through the many museums and research centers charged with protecting the country’s heritage. Alongside the Foundation’s investments, the Koç group of companies carries out multiple philanthropic initiatives. In addition, the family has supported many primary and secondary schools and founded Koç University, whose laudable mission is to provide Turkey’s young people with a world-class education, to advance the frontiers of knowledge and to benefit Turkey and humanity at large. Here in New York City, there will soon be a major announcement about their giving in the field of the arts. Koç family, we salute you for your continuing and outstanding philanthropy.

Joan Weill is an indefatigable supporter of cultural, civic and philanthropic endeavors. Her generosity, along with her distinguished record of service, has benefitted a host of institutions, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation and Citymeals-on-Wheel, to name but two.

Sanford Weill has drawn on his vast experience as a leader in our country’s financial sectors to launch such impressive initiatives as a joint public-private sector partnership with the New York City Board of Education that established the Academy of Finance to prepare high school students for careers in financial services. He is the founder and chairman of the National Academy Foundation, which oversees more than 500 career-themed academies.

But that is not all. According to a recent issue of BusinessWeek, Weill giving has totaled more than $800 million. Their generosity, along with their distinguished record of service, has benefitted numerous organizations including Sidra, a teaching hospital to be completed in 2011 in Qatar; New York Presbyterian Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

If Andrew Carnegie were alive today, he would thank Joan and Sanford Weill for their imaginative giving, a testament to the fact that we cannot take our wealth with us because shrouds have no pockets.

In 2001, he was elected the 108th mayor of New York City. Under his leadership, the city has flourished. Crime is down to record lows, high school graduation rates have reached record highs, New Yorkers are living longer than ever, and the city gets greener and greater every day. But today, we celebrate his philanthropy.

His support in the areas of public health, medical research, education, arts and culture, and social services is extraordinary. But what truly sets him apart is his approach to giving. He has not only generously funded tried and true institutions; he has taken risks on less proven programs and smaller organizations. He brings resources and attention to causes that have long been ignored—focusing on issues that are both specific and solvable, like his groundbreaking programs to reduce tobacco use, improve global road safety, and remove illegal guns from the streets of our cities. And across all of his giving there is a focus on innovation and a rigorous assessment of data.

We all rejoiced in the fact that the Chronicle of Philanthropy named him the country’s leading individual living donor in 2008.

Today we also celebrate, Gordon Moore, as co-founder of Intel, a founding father of Silicon Valley, a seminal figure in the history of computing, and past distinguished Chairman of the Board of the California Institute of Technology.

Betty and Gordon Moore embody Andrew Carnegie’s deeply held belief that with education humankind can “erect the structure of an enduring civilization.” Their foundation’s $300 million commitment to Caltech, matched by their personal gift of $300 million, made the venerable Caltech the recipient of the largest-ever donation to an institution of higher learning, to the great benefit of the university’s students, science departments, Thirty Meter Telescope, and many other projects. But Caltech is not alone. They have supported such eminent institutions as the University of California at Berkeley and others that, like their foundation, are committed to basic science and excellence. Betty and Gordon Moore are and will remain an inspiration to current and future generations. This nation, indeed all nations, are grateful to you.

Ratan Tata will accept the Award on behalf of the family. He is a director on the boards of AlcoaInc., Mondelez International and Board of Governors of the EastWest Center. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of University of Southern California, Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors, X Prize and Cornell University. Tata is a member of the Harvard Business School India Advisory Board and previously a member of the Harvard Business School Asia Pacific Advisory Board. He received the Padma Bhushan in 2000, one of the highest civilian honors awarded by the Government of India. Mr. Tata is a strong proponent of corporate social responsibility, striving to give his company’s philanthropic initiatives focus and to build awareness of important issues such as literacy, microfinance and water conservation among other grassroots community initiatives.

In Pittsburgh, the family helped to create and continues to support Carnegie Mellon University, named in honor of the family, as well as for its founder, Andrew Carnegie, who was a close associate of the Mellons. The Pittsburgh-based Richard King Mellon Foundation has funded the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, the linchpin of the area’s biotechnology sector and supports schools, hospitals and a myriad of causes throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Nationally, the Richard King Mellon Foundation has led the way in land preservation purchasing more than 2 million acres in fifty states, ensuring that this land will remain undeveloped and available for public enjoyment.

Other family philanthropists include William Larimer Mellon, who founded Carnegie Mellon’s business school; Sarah Scaife, a supporter of many Pittsburg institutions; and their many descendants. Different branches of the Mellon family who represent the breadth of the family’s giving will accept the award, including members of the Andrew Mellon family and the Richard King Mellon Family.

In 1995, the family made one of the largest grants ever to benefit the environment – 20 million to establish the Washington, D.C.-based H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment. The Center brings together representatives of business, government, the scientific community and environmental groups to collaborate on the development of fair scientifically sound environment policies.

Teresa Heinz will accept the award on behalf of the family. She is chairman of the Heinz Family Philanthropies and the Heinz Endowments, two of the nation’s most innovative philanthropic institutions. She is the creator of the prestigious Heinz Awards, an annual program recognizing outstanding vision and achievement in the arts; public policy; the environment; the human condition; and technology, the economy, and employment.