Class
| • | 5. The Arts, Professions, and Leaders in Public & Private Affairs | [X] |
| | 1 | Name: | Ms. Nadine Gordimer | | | Year Elected: | 2008 | | | Class: | 5. The Arts, Professions, and Leaders in Public & Private Affairs | | | Subdivision: | 501. Creative Artists | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1923 | | | Death Date: | July 13, 2014 | | | | | | |
Author of fourteen novels and eighteen short story collections, Nadine Gordimer has won prodigious acclaim and respect as a writer and activist, both in her native South Africa and abroad. Her works deal with the moral and psychological issues endemic to her racially divided home country, the political tensions that inevitably result, and the ability of citizens to cope with, and overcome, these divisions. In her stories of ordinary South Africans, Gordimer reveals the layers of moral ambiguity and choice that underlie and shape daily life. From her active opposition to South Africa's apartheid government (her books were banned as a result) to her recent explorations of the AIDS crisis and the complexities of post-apartheid society, Gordimer has used her art as a mirror on, and vehicle for change within, South Africa. For these achievements she was recognized with the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature, which noted that Gordimer "through her magnificent epic writing has been of very great benefit to humanity". Her most recent book is No Time Like the Present", published in 2012. Nadine Gordimer was elected an international member of the American Philosophical Society in 2008. | |
| 2 | Name: | Dr. Itamar Rabinovich | | | Institution: | Tel Aviv University; New York University | | | Year Elected: | 2008 | | | Class: | 5. The Arts, Professions, and Leaders in Public & Private Affairs | | | Subdivision: | 503. Administrators, Bankers and Opinion Leaders from the Public or Private Sectors | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1942 | | | | | | |
Itamar Rabinovich is the incumbent of the Ettinger Chair of Contemporary Middle Eastern History of Tel Aviv University. He recently completed an eight year term as the university president. Professor Rabinovich has been a member of the Tel Aviv University faculty since 1971 and served as chairman of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, director of the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, dean of humanities and rector. He progressed through the academic ranks and was promoted to full professor of Middle Eastern history and was also made incumbent of the Yona and Dina Ettinger Chair of Contemporary Middle Eastern History. Between 1992 and 1996 Professor Rabinovich was on leave from Tel Aviv University and in government service. During these years he served as Israel's Ambassador to the United States and as chief negotiator with Syria. Professor Rabinovich is the author of numerous books and other academic works. He is the author of five books on the modern history and politics of the Middle East and the co-author and co-editor of several other volumes. His most recent books are The Brink of Peace , Waging Peace and The View from Damascus . Over the years, Professor Rabinovich held numerous public positions in Israel and in other countries. He is currently chairman of the board of the Dan David Foundation, chairman of the advisory board of the Wexner-Israel Program, a member of the International Advisory Board of the Brookings Institution in Washington and a member of the board of Bank Leumi, USA, and a member of the International Advisory Board of the American Interest. He recently joined the International Advisory Council of APCO Worldwide. Professor Rabinovich has held visiting appointments in several academic institutions, including the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Toronto. He was for several years the Andrew White Professor at Large at Cornell University, and has recently been appointed as Charles and Andrea Bronfman Distinguished Fellow at the Saban Center, Brookings Institution, Distinguished Global Professor at New York University and Visiting Professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Professor Rabinovich has been awarded the Honorary Grand Golden Cross of the Austrian Republic and was made a Commandeur l'ordre des Palmes Academiques by the Government of the French Republic. In 2014 he was honored with the Scholar-Statesman Award of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Itamar Rabinovich was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2008. | |
| 3 | Name: | Ms. Helen Suzman | | | Institution: | Helen Suzman Foundation | | | Year Elected: | 2008 | | | Class: | 5. The Arts, Professions, and Leaders in Public & Private Affairs | | | Subdivision: | 503. Administrators, Bankers and Opinion Leaders from the Public or Private Sectors | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1917 | | | Death Date: | January 1, 2009 | | | | | | |
In thirty-six years as a member of the South African Parliament, Helen Suzman worked tirelessly to bring democracy to her native land. The sole parliamentarian unequivocally opposed to apartheid from 1961 to 1974, she stood alone, in a divided, patriarchal society, as a progressive voice for equality and human rights. Confronting difficult and unpopular issues head on, she fought for universal suffrage, visited prisons and publicly challenged pro-apartheid officials. In a famous exchange with a fellow parliamentarian who suggested that her questions embarrassed her country overseas, Suzman replied, "It is not my questions that embarrass South Africa, it is your answers." In 1996 Suzman stood with Nelson Mandela as he signed South Africa's new constitution. Since then, she has founded her own foundation to further promote the principles - liberty, equality, empowerment for the powerless - to which she devoted her political career. A two-time nominee for the Nobel Prize, Helen Suzman was voted one of the "100 Greatest South Africans" of all time in 2004. She was elected an international member of the American Philosophical Society in 2008. | |
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