Top Civil Rights Leader to Receive Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Highest Honor

March 13, 2018

The Simon Wiesenthal Center will bestow its highest honor, the 2018 Humanitarian Award, to Ira A. Lipman for his historic achievements and lifelong work on behalf of civil rights and leadership going back six decades. 

Mr. Lipman will receive the honor on May 30, 2018 at the 2018 Humanitarian Award Dinner in New York.

“Ira has been one of the dedicated lay leaders of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, almost since the inception. He is the quintessential example of the Talmudic teaching, ‘Aeyzey U Mechubad Ha Mechubad Ha Michabed Et Habriyoth’ – ‘Who deserves honor, he who honors mankind’, said Rabbi Marvin Hier, Simon Wiesenthal Center founder and dean.

The Humanitarian Award has been bestowed upon Popes, US Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings, Queens, the Dalai Lama, and political, business and entertainment industry leaders from around the world including: His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan; Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin; His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI; Bono; Jerry Bruckheimer; President George H.W. Bush; Tom Cruise; Billy and Janice Crystal; Jonathan Dolgen; Jon Feltheimer; Jim Gianopulos; Whoopi Goldberg; Brian Grazer and Ron Howard; Gerald Hassell; Czech President Vaclav Havel; Israeli President Chaim Herzog; His Majesty King Hussein I of Jordan and Queen Noor; Jeffrey R. Immelt; Kenneth M. Jacobs; His Holiness Pope John Paul II; Jeffrey Katzenberg; Congressman John Lewis; French President Francois Mitterrand; Ron Meyer; Senator George Mitchell; Rupert Murdoch; Indra K. Nooyi; President Ronald Reagan; Brian L. Roberts; Ted Sarandos; French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy; Arnold Schwarzenegger; Tom Secunda; Natan Sharansky; Sid and Lorraine Sheinberg; Frank Sinatra; Will Smith; Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain; Elizabeth Taylor; Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; and Gary Winnick.

For more information, please contact the Center's Communications Department, 310-553-9036. Join the Center on Facebook,

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The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).