Drawing on his decades of experience as an attorney and as a trustee, officer, and volunteer for more than two dozen Pacific Northwest organizations, William H. Gates, Sr. has been instrumental in providing guidance and help in developing strategic direction for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It is his example of generosity and unselfish giving, his love of community and of literacy, and his dedication to the progress of our nation that have inspired his son and his daughter-in-law to follow in his footsteps and become generous and deeply caring philanthropists whose largesse benefits not only our own nation but many others around the world.

Their far-ranging philanthropy encompasses the extraordinary and innovative Library Program, which is committed to bringing computers with Internet access to every public library serving a low-income community in the United States and Canada. States, cities, and provinces that stretch from the Yukon Territory to Texas and from New York to California have received computers and thus free access to information for more than 140 million people—almost half the population of North America. The International Library Program has similar goals, striving to close the digital divide for all the people of the world. Surely, if Andrew Carnegie were with us today, he would be the first to applaud this new chapter in the cause that was perhaps dearest to his heart: the development and proliferation of libraries as the true schoolroom of the world, open to everyone.

The network of foundations he has created operates in more than thirty countries throughout Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Central Eurasia, as well as in Southern Africa, Haiti, Guatemala, and the United States. These foundations are dedicated to building and maintaining the infrastructure and institutions of a truly open and free society. He has also founded other major institutions, such as the Central European University and the International Science Foundation. Through his foundations and his philanthropic ventures, he has given nearly $3 billion to create the better world that he has envisioned for all of humankind.

A native son of Hungary and survivor of the Nazi occupation, he has championed the cause of learning and education as a way of ensuring that human beings, no matter where they are born or the struggles they must endure, have a chance to create a life of hope, peace, and security. He is a financial guru looked up to and admired by scores of international captains of industry as well as individual investors and financiers.

He is a prolific author of books, essays, and articles. His unique understanding of international economies and societies has enabled him to link the worlds of business and intellectual pursuits and of culture and education in order to help people around the globe lead more meaningful and liberated lives.

The contributions of the Rockefeller family are staggering in their extraordinary range and in the scope of their contribution to humankind. As Rockefeller University this year celebrates its own centennial – one hundred years dedicated to scientific excellence for the benefit of humanity – we must also take note of the many other far-reaching benefactions of the Rockefeller clan that have literally affected the lives of millions and brought hope, education, research breakthroughs, medical advances, food programs, health care, and so much else to people in every walk of life, in every corner of the globe. Through the Rockefeller Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the creation of the University of Chicago, Spelman College and so many other institutions and endeavors such as the creation of Colonial Williamsburg, the Rockefeller family has enriched humankind and made the name Rockefeller synonymous with generosity, excellence and a vision of international relationships founded on mutual respect and goodwill.

Perhaps the best way to honor this great family is to honor David and Laurance S. Rockefeller, two of the most outstanding representatives – indeed, symbols – of this unparalleled family. Both of them have combined public service, civic commitment and private philanthropy in the service of not only our own city of New York, but of the state, the nation and the world as well. While their interests may vary, they have always complemented each other in preserving our heritage and advancing knowledge.

The foundation’s emphasis on medical research made it the nation’s largest private supporter of AIDS research. It also played a pivotal role in establishing the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center for the City of New York, which opened in 1991. In her newly organized personal giving program, The Irene Diamond Fund, she continues to support those causes close to her heart, including the Juilliard School, Young Concert Artists, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and Human Rights Watch.

As a senior story editor in the film industry at a time when few women held that position, she “discovered” the property that became Casablanca, one of the greatest films of the 20th century. As a talent scout she was instrumental in bringing two great actors—Robert Redford and Burt Lancaster—to Hollywood. For those achievements alone, generations of movie fans throughout the world are forever in her debt.

For her trail-blazing gifts to combat the scourge of AIDS and to educate the public about the disease and for her lifelong commitment to the philanthropic ideals of Andrew Carnegie, the institutions which he founded present the inaugural Andrew Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy to her with pride and admiration.

She has seen New York City in good times and bad times, but she has also seen it always reassert itself with pride, assurance, and confidence, just as she has done throughout her life. She is the first lady of our city, not only in terms of taste, elegance, style, and grace, but also in the realm of philanthropy. She has bridged the gap between the elite and the general populace; between the familiar and the esoteric; between hope and practicality. Today, almost every important institution and organization in our city, from the great to the small, bears her mark. For more than forty years, the philanthropy of the Astor Foundation, as well as her personal giving and generosity, has enriched New York City and the nation as well.

She has given more than $200 million to institutions ranging from the New York Public Library to the New York Zoological Society, the New York Botanical Garden, the Pierpont Morgan Library, the South Street Seaport, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall and countless others, and she has given with grace and an openness of heart that has set the standard for both obligation and philanthropic largesse. Like Andrew Carnegie, she has always believed that much is expected from those to whom much has been given.

If Andrew Carnegie were with us today, he would thank Ms. Astor personally for her unswerving commitment to the public good, for spreading hope and good will throughout our city, for rewarding excellence, and for responding with great charity when she saw great need. And, as her centennial approaches, Mr. Carnegie would also want to congratulate her, sincerely and with deep appreciation, for the inspiration that her philanthropy has brought to countless numbers of her fellow citizens.

Several years ago Mr. Annenberg exhibited his extraordinary faith in education and a 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, the $500 million program of challenge grants, which generated over a billion dollars in matching funds, was designed to energize, support and replicate successful K-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.

During her husband’s tenure as United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Mrs. Annenberg brought her distinctive taste, style and elegance to the royal court and, later, in Washington, D.C., served her country with the same grace and diplomacy in the capacity of Chief of Protocol, with the rank of Ambassador. She has been nationally celebrated as a great champion of the arts and recognized internationally with awards from the governments of Italy and the Netherlands. In Great Britain she created the American Friends of Covent Garden and back at home worked tirelessly on behalf of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House. Always kind, she wove together the themes of art and education, culture and public service, creating a tapestry of honor, service and vision that puts our nation and many others around the world deeply in her debt.