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ADL Dinner Celebration Raises $1.1 Million and Imagines a World Without Hate

  • December 12, 2012

Imagine a World Without Hate™ was the theme of this year’s Annual Dinner Celebration as ADL kicked off its centennial year on December 11 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.  Nearly 700 people celebrated ADL’s 100 years of impact. More than $1.1 million was raised to support ADL efforts to combat anti-Semitism and bigotry of all kinds.

Two distinguished community members were honored for excellence in their fields as well as for their philanthropic endeavors. One of the honoree’s sisters, TV news anchor and CNN Editorial Producer Nadia Bilchik, was master of ceremonies for the evening.

Humanitarian Award recipient Anton J. Bilchik, MD, PhD, FACS, is the Chief of Medicine at the John Wayne Cancer Institute and co-founder of the California Oncology Research Institute. He is an internationally recognized surgical oncologist who has pioneered techniques to improve staging in colon cancer and minimally invasive approaches for liver and pancreatic cancer.  In his acceptance speech Bilchik said, “I can resect a tumor, but I can’t excise the malignancy that causes bigotry or prejudice.”  He noted that – having grown up in apartheid South Africa — he is all the more appreciative of ADL’s mission “to secure justice and fair treatment for all.”

Jurisprudence Award recipient Harriet S. Posner is a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and has a wide-ranging practice concentrating in complex commercial litigation in state, federal and appellate courts. In addition to her long-term support of ADL, Posner sits on multiple nonprofit boards.  In her acceptance speech she pointed out that “haters are assiduously working at their craft – between anti-abortion violence, voter disenfranchisement, and new iterations of white supremacist groups, hatred is alive and well.”  She invited the audience to take a look at ADL’s website “if you are suffering under any illusions about whether we have to stay invigorated to fight for the next 100 years.”

Throughout the evening, video snippets from those affected by ADL’s work discussed the theme, Imagine a World Without Hate™.  Among them were a Holocaust survivor, several National Youth Leadership Mission participants and an attorney who years ago was an ADL A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute peer trainer.  Singer-songwriter and Broadway performer Shoshana Bean’s musical presentation was capped by her rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

The evening was chaired by Nicole and Allan Mutchnik and Karen and Alan Jay Weil.  Honorary Dinner Chairs were Reveta Bowers, Gila D. Jones and Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer and Mel Keefer.

The Annual Dinner Celebration was the start of a year of festivities.  See our events page for some of the many special programs and events that will be held throughout this centennial year.

In the News:
Los Angeles Daily Journal
The Beverly Hills Courier