Awards, Jun 28, 2007

The following awards have been presented for work in advocacy, fund raising, nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and other areas:

Education fund raising. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (Washington) recently presented its 2007 Distinguished Service Awards. The winners:

— The CASE Lifetime Achievement Award went to H. Sargent Whittier Jr., a fund-raising consultant at Barnes & Roche (Rosemont, Pa.), for his long career of working for charities, including a 28-year tenure at St. Lawrence University (Canton, N.Y.).

— The James L. Fisher Award for Distinguished Service to Education went to Bernard and Barbro Osher, who have awarded millions of dollars in scholarships and supported learning opportunities for older adults through the Bernard Osher Foundation (San Francisco), and to Eugene Tempel, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University (Indianapolis), for his leadership in building the center’s resources for fund-raising professionals.

— The Ernest T. Stewart Award for Alumni Volunteer Involvement went to Li-Chiang Chu, who attended the Woodstock School, in India, for only one year, but has given more than $1-million and hundreds of volunteer hours to the school, and to Peggy Hammer, who received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from California State University at Fullerton, and who volunteers each year to review hundreds of scholarship applications from high-school seniors who are applying to the university.

— The Frank L. Ashmore Award for Service to CASE and the Advancement Profession went to Peter McE. Buchanan, senior associate of Washburn & McGoldrick (Latham, N.Y.) and president emeritus at CASE.

— The Distinguished Friend of Education Award went to Heath Oliver, president of Bardons & Oliver (Solon, Ohio), for his volunteer service at Cuyahoga Community College and the Tri-C Foundation Board of Directors, both in Cleveland.

Environment. The John Merck Fund (Boston) has presented its Frank Hatch Award for Enlightened Public Service to Gary Cohen, executive director of the Environmental Health Fund (Boston) and Health Care Without Harm (Arlington, Va.), two groups that work to remove toxic chemicals from the environment. The award, which carries a $50,000 cash prize, honors a grantee of the foundation whose work “embodies extraordinary creativity, dedication, and foresight.”

Health. The California Wellness Foundation (Woodland Hills) has presented its 2007 Champions of Health Professions Diversity Award to three Californians for their successful efforts to strengthen community clinics and diversify the health-care work force in the state. The winners, who will each receive $25,000:

— Michael V. Drake, chancellor of the University of California at Irvine, for his efforts to increase diversity in the University of California system’s health-professions schools.

— Hector Flores, a co-founder of the Family Care Specialists Medical Group (East Los Angeles) and co-director of the White Memorial Medical Center Family Medicine Residency Program (Los Angeles), which he established to provide young physicians with training and skills needed to practice in communities that lack good-quality or culturally competent medical practices.

— Ernest C. Levister Jr., who practices internal and occupational medicine in San Bernardino, Calif., for his efforts to increase diversity among health-care practitioners, including the creation of a program for the faculty and student body at the University of California at Riverside.

Philanthropy. The Carnegie Corporation has announced the winners of the 2007 Andrew Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, a biennial award that honors philanthropic individuals and families. The honorees, who will be presented with the award in October:

— Eli Broad, founder of KB Home and SunAmerica and co-founder, with his wife, Edythe, of the Broad Foundations, which focus on entrepreneurship in the arts, education, and scientific and medical research.

— The Heinz family of Pittsburgh, whose philanthropic giving has supported the arts, economic opportunity, education, the environment, and efforts to help women and children. Teresa Heinz, chairman of the Heinz Family Philanthropies and the Heinz Endowments, will accept the award on behalf of her family.

— The Mellon family of Pittsburgh, whose philanthropy has established many notable nonprofit and grant-making institutions, including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Several members of the Mellon family will accept the award.

— The Tata family of India, which annually gives away between eight and 14 percent of the net profits of the Tata Group, a company that exports products and services to 140 countries, to support a variety of causes including the arts, children, civil society and governance, education, health and medicine, rural welfare, and science. Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, will accept the award on behalf of his family.