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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release February 7, 1996
           PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES SEVEN TO THE UNITED STATES 
                       HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL COUNCIL

     President Clinton announced today his intent to appoint seven

people to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. They are:

Thomas Buergenthal of Maryland, a Holocaust survivor, is currently the Lobingier Professor of International and Comparative Law at the George Washington University School of Law and is the U.S. Member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. He was a judge, vice president and president of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (1979 to 1991), and the Administrative Tribunal of the Inter-American Development Bank (1989 to 1994). He was the founder and president of the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Institute of Human Rights and now serves as its honorary president. He earned his B.A. from Bethany College, his J.D. from New York University and his LL.M and S.J.D. degrees from Harvard Law School. Dr. Buergenthal is a member of the New York, District of Columbia, and U.S. Supreme Court Bars.

Samuel DuBois Cook of Louisiana has been the president of Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana since January 1, 1975. Under Dr. Cook's leadership, Dillard University has developed the only National Center for Black-Jewish Relations in the world. Dr. Cook served as the first black president of the Southern Political Science Association, the program officer in Higher Education and Research at the Ford Foundation, the vice president of the American Political Science Association and a member of that body's Executive Council. Additionally, he serves on several boards including the board of trustees of Duke University, the board of directors of the Council on Library Resources and the board of advisors of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. He received his B.A. from Morehouse College and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Ohio State University.

Rositta E. Kenigsberg of Florida currently serves as the executive vice president of the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center, Inc., at Florida International University. Ms. Kenigsberg is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. She is the founding chair of the Children of Holocaust Survivors of Southeastern Florida and has previously served as a second generation advisor to Elie Wiesel (during his tenure as chair of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council), the national vice president of the executive committee of the American Gathering/Federation of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, the president of the International Network of Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, and coordinated the First National Conference on the Identification, Treatment and Care of the Aging Holocaust Survivors. Ms. Kenigsberg was instrumental in pursuing and drafting the legislation that ultimately led to the passage of the Holocaust Educational Bill in 1994. Ms. Kenigsberg is a graduate of both Sir George Williams and McGill University.

Lynn Lyss of Missouri is the chair of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council and serves on the Executive Committees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and the Jewish Federation of St. Louis. Additionally, Ms. Lyss has been active on numerous boards, including the National Conference of Christians and Jews and the St. Louis County Domestic Violence Advisory Committee. She has received many awards and honors, including the NAACP Women's Gold Medal of Honor in 1994 and the NAACP Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991. Also, she received the American Jewish Committee's "Netzach" award in 1994, the National Conference Brotherhood/Sisterhood Award in 1991, the Youth Emergency Services' "Outstanding Contributions to Youth" award in 1986, and the Missouri Volunteer Award in 1984.

Ruth B. Mandel of New Jersey has served on the Council since 1991, and was appointed vice-chair in 1993. Currently, Ms. Mandel is the director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, where she also holds an appointment as Board of Governors Professor of Politics. During her years at Rutgers, Dr. Mandel also served as director of the Center for the American Woman and Politics (CAWP) and has taught courses in the political science and English departments. Additionally, she was the recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Public Service Award in 1992 and the Douglass Medal for Distinguished Service to undergraduate students. Dr. Mandel received her B.A. in English from Brooklyn College and both her M.A. and Ph.D degrees in English/American Literature from the University of Connecticut. Professor Mandel was born in Vienna, Austria.

Harvey M. Meyerhoff of Maryland is the chairman emeritus of the Holocaust Memorial Council, where he has served since 1986. Currently, he is the chairman of the board of Magna Holdings, Inc. in Baltimore. Mr. Meyerhoff has also served as a chairman and CEO of Monumental Properties Inc., director of Monumental Corporation and managing trustee of Monumental Properties Trust. He is the director of the PEC Israel Economic Corporation, Offitbank, the Concord Coalition and the National Housing Endowment. In addition, he is a trustee of the Johns Hopkins University and the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, and an honorary life director of the National Association of Home Builders, the League for the Handicapped and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Meyerhoff received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin.

Elie Wiesel, a native of Sighet, Transylvania (Romania), is an internationally renowned author, teacher and Holocaust survivor, has been the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, the Medal of Liberty Award and the rank of Grand Officer in the French Legion of Honor. He is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University. Mr. Wiesel was appointed as chairman of the President's Commission on the Holocaust in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter, and later as founding chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. After World War II, Mr. Wiesel moved to Paris for his studies and became a journalist. He has been the "Distinguished Professor of Judaic Studies" at the City University of New York and the first Henry Luce Visiting Scholar in the Humanities and Social Thought at Yale University. He has received more than eighty honorary degrees from institutions of higher learning.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Council was established in 1979 to provide for the annual commemoration and observance of the Days of Remembrance of the Holocaust, and to construct and operate a living memorial to its victims.

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