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'CHAMPIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS' TO BE RECOGNIZED AT ANCA-WR BANQUET
Friday, October 31st, 2014
http://asbarez.com/128419/%E2%80%98champions-of-human-rights%E2%80%99-to-be-recognized-at-anca-wr-banquet/
L. to r.: Charles Benjamin, Shant Mardirossian, Henry Ben Morgenthau
IV, M.D., Johnson Garrett, and Keith Coogan
BY VANNA T. KITSINIAN, ESQ.
LOS ANGELES--The Armenian National Committee of America - Western
Region (ANCA-WR) announced that it will recognize three individual
champions of human rights - U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Cleveland
H. Dodge, and Jackie Coogan -- who, in working with the Near East
Relief, were instrumental in bringing worldwide attention and rendering
aid to the orphans and refugees during and in the aftermath of the
Armenian Genocide from 1915 through 1930.
Ambassador Henry Morgenthau Perhaps the most vocal American political
figure in history to speak on behalf of the Armenian people was Henry
Morgenthau. Morgenthau was born in Mannheim, Grand Duchy of Baden
in 1856 into an Ashkenazi Jewish family of twelve children. He was a
lawyer, businessman, and United States Ambassador, most famous as the
American Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1913 through 1916. As
an early Woodrow Wilson supporter, Morgenthau, like other prominent
Jewish Americans, was posted as the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
under an assumption operating at the time that Jews somehow represented
a bridge between Muslim Turks and Christian Americans. Although the
safety of American citizens in the Ottoman Empire--mostly Christian
missionaries and Jews--was a major concern during his ambassadorship,
Morgenthau stated that the one issue he was most preoccupied with
was the Armenian Question, meaning the protection and the freedom of
Armenians from their neighboring communities in the Ottoman Empire.
As Ottoman authorities began the extermination campaign of the
Armenians in 1914-1915, it is reported that Morgenthau's desk
was flooded with reports nearly every hour by the American consuls
residing in different parts of the Empire, documenting the massacres
and deportation marches that were taking place. Faced with overwhelming
evidence of genocide, and having witnessed the atrocities first-hand,
Morgenthau sparked the American, and thereafter, international, relief
effort for the Armenians by sending a cablegram to the Secretary of
State in Washington DC on September 6, 1915, stating, " Destruction of
[the] Armenian race in Turkey is progressing rapidly..." Meanwhile,
Morgenthau held high-level meetings with leaders of the Ottoman Empire,
including Talaat and Enver Pasha, to help alleviate the suffering
of the Armenians, but his protestations were blatantly ignored. As a
result, Morgenthau famously admonished the country's Interior Minister
Talaat Pasha, stating, "Our people will never forget these massacres."
As the Genocide continued, Morgenthau and several other American
leaders decided to form a committee to lead the relief efforts. This
committee later came to be known as the Near East Relief. Through his
personal friendship with Adolph Ochs, publisher of The New York Times,
Morgenthau ensured that the massacres of the Armenians continued to
receive prominent coverage, with 145 published in The New York Times
in 1915 alone. Exasperated with his relationship with the Ottoman
government, he resigned from the ambassadorship in 1916. Looking
back on that decision in his report concerning the annihilation of
the Armenian people, "The Murder of a Nation," Morgenthau wrote that
he had come to see Turkey as "a place of horror." He stated, "I had
reached the end of my resources. I found intolerable my further daily
association with men, however gracious and accommodating . . . who
were still reeking with the blood of nearly a million human beings."
Later, his conversation with Ottoman leaders and his account of the
Armenian Genocide was published in 1918 under the title Ambassador
Morgenthau's Story.
The Armenian National Committee of America WR (ANCA-WR) is proud
to recognize U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau's efforts to draw
international attention the Armenian Genocide and for organizing
private and public relief efforts to save the Armenian people.
Accepting the posthumous recognition on the Ambassador's behalf is his
great-grandson, Henry Ben Morgenthau IV, MD, a pediatrician based in
San Francisco, California. Dr. Morgenthau is also the grandson of Henry
Morgenthau Jr., who was Secretary of the Treasury during President
Franklin Roosevelt's administration. Dr. Morgenthau IV has maintained
strong ties to the Armenian community and its most important causes
throughout his life. In 1999, he traveled to Armenia where he met with
the President in Yerevan, the Catholicos at Etchmiadzin, and visited
the National Genocide Memorial and other important cultural sites.
In receiving this honor, Dr. Ben Morgenthau stated, "I would like
to thank the Armenian National Committee WR for singling out the
heroic work of the Near East Relief and the Near East Foundation. My
great grandfather, Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, was a founder of
the Committee on Armenian Atrocities, which later became the Near
East Relief. He was one of just a few heroes in positions of power
willing to call attention to the horrific Genocide taking place in
Armenia in 1915. We need more heroes."
Cleveland Dodge Following the Ambassador's pivotal initial steps to
bring international attention to this unimpeachable crime against
humanity, several prominent Americans joined the Ambassador's efforts
to mobilize aid to the desolate Armenians who managed to survive the
massacres. The aid that was rendered would not have been possible had
it not been for the steadfast altruism of New York based philanthropist
Cleveland H. Dodge.
Just ten days after Ambassador Morgenthau sent his famous cablegram
with a plea seeking urgent assistance for the refugees, the Committee
for Armenian and Syrian Relief's (later named Near East Relief) first
meeting took place in Cleveland Dodge's office on September 16, 1915.
At the initial meeting, Dodge, along with a small group of friends,
each pledged the first $60,000, which was cabled immediately for
relief of the orphans and refugees. Not only was Dodge one of the
organizers and founding members of NER, but was also, for several
years, a personal funder of campaign and administrative expenses
enabling NER to advertise that, "100 cents of every dollar go for
relief - none for expenses, which are met privately."
In 1919, when the war had left the entire Armenian population
practically exiled from their homeland, stranded in the impoverished,
famine-stricken regions of Southern Russia without food, clothing,
or shelter, Armenians were dying of starvation at a rate of 1,000 per
day. A million lives were at stake and a minimum of $15,000,000 was
required to see them through the winter. Of course, as generous as
Dodge had been in providing campaign and administrative expenses,
$15 million could not have been raised without a larger campaign
organization. At that stage, no one dreamed of asking Cleveland Dodge
to do more than he had already done in spearheading and funding the
relief campaign and administrative expenses. When Dodge learned that
individuals other than himself would be asked to supplement what he
was already doing to raise the additional funds, he requested from
the Committee not to ask anyone else for additional campaign money
and again generously donated an additional $100,000, and whatever
else was necessary to see the winter through.
Moreover, through the years of NER's existence, Dodge personally
corresponded with President Woodrow Wilson, providing both emotional
support for the challenging times which he and the rest of the
world were navigating, as well as the financial backing of NER to
help bring to fruition the much needed aid for refugees in the Near
East, who the President so firmly believed needed aid. Thousands of
committeemen and friends throughout United States and the Near East
expressed their feelings of appreciation to Cleveland Dodge for all
he did to make the mission of NER a reality.
It has been widely reported that the NER would not have existed had
it not been for Cleveland Dodge, and there certainly would not have
been such a rapid and far-reaching development of the organization,
administering a total of $117 million of relief funds, had it not
been for his inspiring leadership and generosity.
Accepting the recognition on behalf of Cleveland H. Dodge is his
great-grandson Johnson Garrett, currently the Vice-Chairman of the
Near East Foundation (NEF) and a Board Member of the Cleveland H.
Dodge Foundation. He is also a member of the executive committee for
both organizations. Garrett has worked as a digital media executive
for 15 years, previously working for AOL, Viacom, Excite@Home, Ask
Jeeves, and most recently, IAC/InterActive Corp. Garrett was a term
member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a founding member of
Network 20-20, a New York based foreign policy group. He graduated
with a B.A. from Princeton University and a MBA from Columbia School
of Business.
In response to the recognition, Garrett stated, "On behalf of the
Dodge family, I am deeply grateful for this honor being bestowed
upon my great-grandfather Cleveland H. Dodge. His philanthropic
legacy was extraordinary, but no more evident and impactful than in
helping to found Near East Relief which aided so many Armenians in
their darkest hour."
Jackie Coogan Recognizing the immense influence of media, NER
enlisted the "world's best known boy" and most prominent child star
in Hollywood at the time to carry the NER message to the masses. In
the early 1920's, child actor Jackie Coogan--later widely known as
Uncle Fester on The Addams Family--lent his star power to the worthy
cause of relief efforts to the starving children in the Near East.
Coogan launched "Jackie Coogan's Circus" in Hollywood with the mission
of obtaining food and clothing to donate to the dependent children
of the Near East. With the aid of his side shows, band, bareback
riders, acrobats, clowns, camels, lions, and everything in between,
Jackie raised $3,500 by charging an admission in the form of a bundle
of clothing or shoes or two cans of condensed milk. More than 7,500
people attended Jackie's circus.
Most significantly, Jackie Coogan embarked on a tour of the United
States and a four-month trip to Europe on behalf of the starving
children of the Near East. In the U.S., Coogan visited 25 American
cities in just August of 1924 in the interest of the relief fund,
including Albuquerque, Denver, Kansas City, Chicago, Indianapolis,
Louisville, Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburg,
Washington, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Newark and New York, to name a
few. Every school child in the U.S. was asked to bring contributions
to the collection stations. Boy Scouts, milk companies, and various
organizations helped collect the supplies under the direction of
the NER. Following his American tour, he then set sail for Europe,
commanding a voyage to Greece, Syria, Armenia, and the Holy Land.
Thereafter, Coogan led a "Children's Crusade of Mercy," and
with the help of his star power, successfully raised and sent a
million dollar shipload of provisions to aid the orphans of the
Near East. He personally set sail from New York City to Greece and
made the presentation of the $1,000,000 worth of supplies to the
representatives of the NER and the orphans themselves. At the time,
a benefit performance of the latest Coogan film, "Little Robinson
Crusoe," preceded his departure. The Los Angeles Times reported that
more than 3,500 cans of condensed milk were received, two from each
Boy Scout who attended. Numerous articles were published in The Los
Angeles Times and The New York Times, reporting on Coogan's Children's
Crusade, with headlines that read "Jackie's Circus is Great Hit,"
"Master Coogan Does Good Work for Starved Tots of Armenia," "Jackie
Begins Relief Tour," "Coogan given send-off as He Starters Long
Trip in Interest of Starving Armenians", "Child Film Star Will Lead
'Children's Crusade' and Go With Ship to Near East," "Boy Actor Back
from Near East," etc. Coogan was described as a leader of a crusade
of mercy to the Bible Lands. Before his tour of the Near East, tag
sales that took place in Hollywood and downtown streets aided the
Jackie Coogan Near East Relief Condensed Milk Fund, with The Kiwanis
Club tendering Coogan a farewell luncheon.
In 1924, Jackie Coogan was decorated by the Greek government with
the medal of an Office of the Order of George, given in recognition
of his humanitarian work. The decoration ceremony took place in the
Acropolis in the presence of the American Minister, government and
civil officials, and 7,000 NER orphans. At that time, The New York
Times reported that it was the first time this medal had ever been
given to a child.
Accepting the recognition posthumously on Jackie Coogan's behalf is
his grandson, Keith Coogan. On this occasion, Keith stated, "Jackie
Coogan played a very small part and was a very young man who turned
to his father at the time and said, 'Daddy, we need to do something
to help.' And his father believed that as a young boy of privilege, it
was important that Jackie see what was happening in the world. And in
a few short years, Hollywood came together and raised millions. It was
really the children that came together, as Jackie led the Children's
Crusade of Care with his milk trains and the steam barges he took
overseas via the establishment of the Near East Relief. I thank you
for honoring him, California, and all of Hollywood." Keith Coogan was
born on January 13, 1970 in Palm Springs, California. Following in
the footsteps of his legendary grandfather, Keith began his acting
career in TV commercials, as well various TV shows and made-for-TV
movies. He played the smitten Brad Anderson in the delightful
teen comedy cult favorite "Adventures in Babysitting" and gave an
engaging performance as Christina Applegate's brother Kenny in "Don't
Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead." He has made guest appearances on
"Toy Soldiers," "The Love Boat," "Eight Is Enough," "Knight Rider,"
"CHiPS," "Starman," "21 Jumpstreet," to name a few. Keith graduated
from Santa Monica High School and attended Santa Monica College and
Los Angeles City College, majoring in Drama. Coogan resides in Los
Angeles and continues to act and runs blogs in his spare time.
The ANCA-WR is proud to recognize the humanitarian spirit of Henry
Morgenthau, Cleveland H. Dodge, and Jackie Coogan, who embarked on
one of the greatest international humanitarian efforts launched in
the history of the American people. In addition to recognizing these
three individuals, accepting the "Humanitarian Award" on behalf of
the Near East Foundation will be Shant Mardirossian, Chairman of the
Near East Foundation (NEF) and Charles Benjamin, President of NEF.
Mardirossian is the Chairman of the Near East Foundation ("NEF"),
an international development organization founded in 1915. NEF is
affiliated with Syracuse University, where its headquarters are located
and operates in seven countries, which include Egypt, Jordon, Morocco,
the West Bank, Sudan, Mali and Armenia. Mardirossian most recently
led NEF's effort to establish micro-economic development projects
in rural Armenian villages. In his professional life, Mardirossian
is a Partner and the Chief Operating Officer at Kohlberg & Company,
L.L.C., a leading U.S. middle-market private equity firm.
He is a graduate of the Lubin School of Business at Pace University
and holds a B.B.A. in Public Accounting and an M.B.A. with dual
concentration in Investment Management and Strategic Management.
Charles Benjamin has over 20 years of experience in international
development, with extensive experience in community development and
natural resource management throughout the Middle East and Africa. He
has been involved with NEF since 1993, when he began a five-year
assignment as Country Director in Morocco. Prior to becoming President
of NEF in January 2010, he was a Senior Manager with the International
Resources Group, an international development-consulting firm based in
Washington, D.C., where he managed USAID-funded development projects
in the Middle East and Africa. He holds a Ph.D. in natural resources
and environment from the University of Michigan, with a focus on
decentralization and local institutional development in West Africa.
The legacy of the Near East Relief and all of the selfless individuals
who exemplified true humanitarian spirit reflect the deep bonds that
have long existed between the American and Armenian people. The
Armenian National Committee of America WR is proud to honor and
recognize their work and their memory.
Friday, October 31st, 2014
http://asbarez.com/128419/%E2%80%98champions-of-human-rights%E2%80%99-to-be-recognized-at-anca-wr-banquet/
L. to r.: Charles Benjamin, Shant Mardirossian, Henry Ben Morgenthau
IV, M.D., Johnson Garrett, and Keith Coogan
BY VANNA T. KITSINIAN, ESQ.
LOS ANGELES--The Armenian National Committee of America - Western
Region (ANCA-WR) announced that it will recognize three individual
champions of human rights - U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Cleveland
H. Dodge, and Jackie Coogan -- who, in working with the Near East
Relief, were instrumental in bringing worldwide attention and rendering
aid to the orphans and refugees during and in the aftermath of the
Armenian Genocide from 1915 through 1930.
Ambassador Henry Morgenthau Perhaps the most vocal American political
figure in history to speak on behalf of the Armenian people was Henry
Morgenthau. Morgenthau was born in Mannheim, Grand Duchy of Baden
in 1856 into an Ashkenazi Jewish family of twelve children. He was a
lawyer, businessman, and United States Ambassador, most famous as the
American Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1913 through 1916. As
an early Woodrow Wilson supporter, Morgenthau, like other prominent
Jewish Americans, was posted as the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
under an assumption operating at the time that Jews somehow represented
a bridge between Muslim Turks and Christian Americans. Although the
safety of American citizens in the Ottoman Empire--mostly Christian
missionaries and Jews--was a major concern during his ambassadorship,
Morgenthau stated that the one issue he was most preoccupied with
was the Armenian Question, meaning the protection and the freedom of
Armenians from their neighboring communities in the Ottoman Empire.
As Ottoman authorities began the extermination campaign of the
Armenians in 1914-1915, it is reported that Morgenthau's desk
was flooded with reports nearly every hour by the American consuls
residing in different parts of the Empire, documenting the massacres
and deportation marches that were taking place. Faced with overwhelming
evidence of genocide, and having witnessed the atrocities first-hand,
Morgenthau sparked the American, and thereafter, international, relief
effort for the Armenians by sending a cablegram to the Secretary of
State in Washington DC on September 6, 1915, stating, " Destruction of
[the] Armenian race in Turkey is progressing rapidly..." Meanwhile,
Morgenthau held high-level meetings with leaders of the Ottoman Empire,
including Talaat and Enver Pasha, to help alleviate the suffering
of the Armenians, but his protestations were blatantly ignored. As a
result, Morgenthau famously admonished the country's Interior Minister
Talaat Pasha, stating, "Our people will never forget these massacres."
As the Genocide continued, Morgenthau and several other American
leaders decided to form a committee to lead the relief efforts. This
committee later came to be known as the Near East Relief. Through his
personal friendship with Adolph Ochs, publisher of The New York Times,
Morgenthau ensured that the massacres of the Armenians continued to
receive prominent coverage, with 145 published in The New York Times
in 1915 alone. Exasperated with his relationship with the Ottoman
government, he resigned from the ambassadorship in 1916. Looking
back on that decision in his report concerning the annihilation of
the Armenian people, "The Murder of a Nation," Morgenthau wrote that
he had come to see Turkey as "a place of horror." He stated, "I had
reached the end of my resources. I found intolerable my further daily
association with men, however gracious and accommodating . . . who
were still reeking with the blood of nearly a million human beings."
Later, his conversation with Ottoman leaders and his account of the
Armenian Genocide was published in 1918 under the title Ambassador
Morgenthau's Story.
The Armenian National Committee of America WR (ANCA-WR) is proud
to recognize U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau's efforts to draw
international attention the Armenian Genocide and for organizing
private and public relief efforts to save the Armenian people.
Accepting the posthumous recognition on the Ambassador's behalf is his
great-grandson, Henry Ben Morgenthau IV, MD, a pediatrician based in
San Francisco, California. Dr. Morgenthau is also the grandson of Henry
Morgenthau Jr., who was Secretary of the Treasury during President
Franklin Roosevelt's administration. Dr. Morgenthau IV has maintained
strong ties to the Armenian community and its most important causes
throughout his life. In 1999, he traveled to Armenia where he met with
the President in Yerevan, the Catholicos at Etchmiadzin, and visited
the National Genocide Memorial and other important cultural sites.
In receiving this honor, Dr. Ben Morgenthau stated, "I would like
to thank the Armenian National Committee WR for singling out the
heroic work of the Near East Relief and the Near East Foundation. My
great grandfather, Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, was a founder of
the Committee on Armenian Atrocities, which later became the Near
East Relief. He was one of just a few heroes in positions of power
willing to call attention to the horrific Genocide taking place in
Armenia in 1915. We need more heroes."
Cleveland Dodge Following the Ambassador's pivotal initial steps to
bring international attention to this unimpeachable crime against
humanity, several prominent Americans joined the Ambassador's efforts
to mobilize aid to the desolate Armenians who managed to survive the
massacres. The aid that was rendered would not have been possible had
it not been for the steadfast altruism of New York based philanthropist
Cleveland H. Dodge.
Just ten days after Ambassador Morgenthau sent his famous cablegram
with a plea seeking urgent assistance for the refugees, the Committee
for Armenian and Syrian Relief's (later named Near East Relief) first
meeting took place in Cleveland Dodge's office on September 16, 1915.
At the initial meeting, Dodge, along with a small group of friends,
each pledged the first $60,000, which was cabled immediately for
relief of the orphans and refugees. Not only was Dodge one of the
organizers and founding members of NER, but was also, for several
years, a personal funder of campaign and administrative expenses
enabling NER to advertise that, "100 cents of every dollar go for
relief - none for expenses, which are met privately."
In 1919, when the war had left the entire Armenian population
practically exiled from their homeland, stranded in the impoverished,
famine-stricken regions of Southern Russia without food, clothing,
or shelter, Armenians were dying of starvation at a rate of 1,000 per
day. A million lives were at stake and a minimum of $15,000,000 was
required to see them through the winter. Of course, as generous as
Dodge had been in providing campaign and administrative expenses,
$15 million could not have been raised without a larger campaign
organization. At that stage, no one dreamed of asking Cleveland Dodge
to do more than he had already done in spearheading and funding the
relief campaign and administrative expenses. When Dodge learned that
individuals other than himself would be asked to supplement what he
was already doing to raise the additional funds, he requested from
the Committee not to ask anyone else for additional campaign money
and again generously donated an additional $100,000, and whatever
else was necessary to see the winter through.
Moreover, through the years of NER's existence, Dodge personally
corresponded with President Woodrow Wilson, providing both emotional
support for the challenging times which he and the rest of the
world were navigating, as well as the financial backing of NER to
help bring to fruition the much needed aid for refugees in the Near
East, who the President so firmly believed needed aid. Thousands of
committeemen and friends throughout United States and the Near East
expressed their feelings of appreciation to Cleveland Dodge for all
he did to make the mission of NER a reality.
It has been widely reported that the NER would not have existed had
it not been for Cleveland Dodge, and there certainly would not have
been such a rapid and far-reaching development of the organization,
administering a total of $117 million of relief funds, had it not
been for his inspiring leadership and generosity.
Accepting the recognition on behalf of Cleveland H. Dodge is his
great-grandson Johnson Garrett, currently the Vice-Chairman of the
Near East Foundation (NEF) and a Board Member of the Cleveland H.
Dodge Foundation. He is also a member of the executive committee for
both organizations. Garrett has worked as a digital media executive
for 15 years, previously working for AOL, Viacom, Excite@Home, Ask
Jeeves, and most recently, IAC/InterActive Corp. Garrett was a term
member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a founding member of
Network 20-20, a New York based foreign policy group. He graduated
with a B.A. from Princeton University and a MBA from Columbia School
of Business.
In response to the recognition, Garrett stated, "On behalf of the
Dodge family, I am deeply grateful for this honor being bestowed
upon my great-grandfather Cleveland H. Dodge. His philanthropic
legacy was extraordinary, but no more evident and impactful than in
helping to found Near East Relief which aided so many Armenians in
their darkest hour."
Jackie Coogan Recognizing the immense influence of media, NER
enlisted the "world's best known boy" and most prominent child star
in Hollywood at the time to carry the NER message to the masses. In
the early 1920's, child actor Jackie Coogan--later widely known as
Uncle Fester on The Addams Family--lent his star power to the worthy
cause of relief efforts to the starving children in the Near East.
Coogan launched "Jackie Coogan's Circus" in Hollywood with the mission
of obtaining food and clothing to donate to the dependent children
of the Near East. With the aid of his side shows, band, bareback
riders, acrobats, clowns, camels, lions, and everything in between,
Jackie raised $3,500 by charging an admission in the form of a bundle
of clothing or shoes or two cans of condensed milk. More than 7,500
people attended Jackie's circus.
Most significantly, Jackie Coogan embarked on a tour of the United
States and a four-month trip to Europe on behalf of the starving
children of the Near East. In the U.S., Coogan visited 25 American
cities in just August of 1924 in the interest of the relief fund,
including Albuquerque, Denver, Kansas City, Chicago, Indianapolis,
Louisville, Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburg,
Washington, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Newark and New York, to name a
few. Every school child in the U.S. was asked to bring contributions
to the collection stations. Boy Scouts, milk companies, and various
organizations helped collect the supplies under the direction of
the NER. Following his American tour, he then set sail for Europe,
commanding a voyage to Greece, Syria, Armenia, and the Holy Land.
Thereafter, Coogan led a "Children's Crusade of Mercy," and
with the help of his star power, successfully raised and sent a
million dollar shipload of provisions to aid the orphans of the
Near East. He personally set sail from New York City to Greece and
made the presentation of the $1,000,000 worth of supplies to the
representatives of the NER and the orphans themselves. At the time,
a benefit performance of the latest Coogan film, "Little Robinson
Crusoe," preceded his departure. The Los Angeles Times reported that
more than 3,500 cans of condensed milk were received, two from each
Boy Scout who attended. Numerous articles were published in The Los
Angeles Times and The New York Times, reporting on Coogan's Children's
Crusade, with headlines that read "Jackie's Circus is Great Hit,"
"Master Coogan Does Good Work for Starved Tots of Armenia," "Jackie
Begins Relief Tour," "Coogan given send-off as He Starters Long
Trip in Interest of Starving Armenians", "Child Film Star Will Lead
'Children's Crusade' and Go With Ship to Near East," "Boy Actor Back
from Near East," etc. Coogan was described as a leader of a crusade
of mercy to the Bible Lands. Before his tour of the Near East, tag
sales that took place in Hollywood and downtown streets aided the
Jackie Coogan Near East Relief Condensed Milk Fund, with The Kiwanis
Club tendering Coogan a farewell luncheon.
In 1924, Jackie Coogan was decorated by the Greek government with
the medal of an Office of the Order of George, given in recognition
of his humanitarian work. The decoration ceremony took place in the
Acropolis in the presence of the American Minister, government and
civil officials, and 7,000 NER orphans. At that time, The New York
Times reported that it was the first time this medal had ever been
given to a child.
Accepting the recognition posthumously on Jackie Coogan's behalf is
his grandson, Keith Coogan. On this occasion, Keith stated, "Jackie
Coogan played a very small part and was a very young man who turned
to his father at the time and said, 'Daddy, we need to do something
to help.' And his father believed that as a young boy of privilege, it
was important that Jackie see what was happening in the world. And in
a few short years, Hollywood came together and raised millions. It was
really the children that came together, as Jackie led the Children's
Crusade of Care with his milk trains and the steam barges he took
overseas via the establishment of the Near East Relief. I thank you
for honoring him, California, and all of Hollywood." Keith Coogan was
born on January 13, 1970 in Palm Springs, California. Following in
the footsteps of his legendary grandfather, Keith began his acting
career in TV commercials, as well various TV shows and made-for-TV
movies. He played the smitten Brad Anderson in the delightful
teen comedy cult favorite "Adventures in Babysitting" and gave an
engaging performance as Christina Applegate's brother Kenny in "Don't
Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead." He has made guest appearances on
"Toy Soldiers," "The Love Boat," "Eight Is Enough," "Knight Rider,"
"CHiPS," "Starman," "21 Jumpstreet," to name a few. Keith graduated
from Santa Monica High School and attended Santa Monica College and
Los Angeles City College, majoring in Drama. Coogan resides in Los
Angeles and continues to act and runs blogs in his spare time.
The ANCA-WR is proud to recognize the humanitarian spirit of Henry
Morgenthau, Cleveland H. Dodge, and Jackie Coogan, who embarked on
one of the greatest international humanitarian efforts launched in
the history of the American people. In addition to recognizing these
three individuals, accepting the "Humanitarian Award" on behalf of
the Near East Foundation will be Shant Mardirossian, Chairman of the
Near East Foundation (NEF) and Charles Benjamin, President of NEF.
Mardirossian is the Chairman of the Near East Foundation ("NEF"),
an international development organization founded in 1915. NEF is
affiliated with Syracuse University, where its headquarters are located
and operates in seven countries, which include Egypt, Jordon, Morocco,
the West Bank, Sudan, Mali and Armenia. Mardirossian most recently
led NEF's effort to establish micro-economic development projects
in rural Armenian villages. In his professional life, Mardirossian
is a Partner and the Chief Operating Officer at Kohlberg & Company,
L.L.C., a leading U.S. middle-market private equity firm.
He is a graduate of the Lubin School of Business at Pace University
and holds a B.B.A. in Public Accounting and an M.B.A. with dual
concentration in Investment Management and Strategic Management.
Charles Benjamin has over 20 years of experience in international
development, with extensive experience in community development and
natural resource management throughout the Middle East and Africa. He
has been involved with NEF since 1993, when he began a five-year
assignment as Country Director in Morocco. Prior to becoming President
of NEF in January 2010, he was a Senior Manager with the International
Resources Group, an international development-consulting firm based in
Washington, D.C., where he managed USAID-funded development projects
in the Middle East and Africa. He holds a Ph.D. in natural resources
and environment from the University of Michigan, with a focus on
decentralization and local institutional development in West Africa.
The legacy of the Near East Relief and all of the selfless individuals
who exemplified true humanitarian spirit reflect the deep bonds that
have long existed between the American and Armenian people. The
Armenian National Committee of America WR is proud to honor and
recognize their work and their memory.