Posted in .

ADL Centennial Gala Honors Barbara and Thomas J. Leanse and George David Kieffer: Celebrates 100 Years of ADL Impact

  • October 10, 2013

Los Angeles, CA –- The Anti-Defamation League’s Pacific Southwest Region will hold its 2013 Centennial Gala Celebration on Tuesday, December 10 at 6 p.m., at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.  Three distinguished community members will be honored for excellence in their professional fields, leadership in our community and their philanthropic endeavors. Proceeds from the Gala will support ADL’s efforts to combat anti-Semitism and bigotry.

ADL, founded in 1913, is one of the nation’s premier human relations and civil rights organizations. Through educational programs, coalitions with community leaders, and partnerships with local law enforcement, ADL fights anti-Semitism and bigotry of all kinds.  ADL celebrates its Centennial throughout 2013 with the theme Imagine a World Without Hate®. This year’s Gala will serve as the culmination of ADL’s year-long Centennial celebration.

Humanitarian Award recipients Barbara and Thomas J. Leanse devote much of their time to the community and have actively supported ADL since the 1980s. They have held key leadership positions within the organization, including as past ADL Gala Chairs. Barbara Leanse became affiliated in 1985 with Cedars Sinai as a social worker and has been Director of the Volunteer Services Department since 1998. Most recently, Tom Leanse spent 20 years as a Partner with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP before becoming the Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of The Macerich Company in the fall of 2012. Mr. Leanse has served on ADL’s Executive Committee for more than two decades. He created ADL’s Maxwell E. Greenberg Summer Associate Research Program.

Jurisprudence Award recipient George David Kieffer is a partner in the national law firm of Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Mr. Kieffer serves on the Board of Regents of the University of California, was a principal co-author of the new Los Angeles City Charter, and was a two-time Chair of the Board of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. He supports numerous community-based charities, including ADL.

Mark Feuerstein will serve as Master of Ceremonies. Feuerstein has starred as Hank Lawson in the hit USA Network original television series Royal Pains for the past five seasons and has worked consistently over the past ten years, receiving critical acclaim for his roles in film, television and theater.

A special musical performance will be provided by Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. Hailed as “one of the last important links to a glorious tradition in music,” GMCLA has toured internationally, released 14 albums, commissioned over 300 new works and arrangements and appears frequently on national television, including the 2013 Academy Awards.

Honorary Dinner Co-Chairs are Kate and Art Coppola, Sherry Lansing and William Friedkin, Debbie and Rick Powell, Jody and Tom Priselac and Heidi Schulman and Mickey Kantor. Dinner Co-Chairs are Harriet and Steven Nichols and Stephanie and Howard Sherwood.

The Humanitarian Award will be presented by ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman and the Jurisprudence Award will be presented by Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Raymond Pryke Professor of First Amendment Law at UCI School of Law.

The event begins with a reception at 6:00 p.m., dinner and program at 7:00 p.m. and a NextGen reception directly following the evening’s festivities.  Tickets are $500.

For reservations or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities, please call (310) 446-4267 or visit www.adl.org/2013gala.