Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the US

Edgar M. Bronfman (New York, NY) is Chairman of the Seagram Company Ltd., and the Samuel Bronfman Foundation, Inc. He acts as President of the World Jewish Congress and the World Jewish Restitution Organization, which is devoted to ensuring the return of communal Jewish property stolen by the Nazis. He is also Chairman of the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life (Hillel). Mr. Bronfman earned his bachelor's degree from McGill University in Montreal. (Top of Page)

The Honorable Christopher Dodd (East Haddam, CT) was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980. He is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Labor and Human Resources Committee, Special Committee on the Year 2000 Problem, and the Senate Rules and Administration Committee. Prior to his work in the Senate, Sen. Dodd served in the House of Representatives. He served two years in the Dominican Republic with the Peace Corps. Senator Dodd is the son of the late Senator Thomas J. Dodd (CT). When the Allied Powers convened an international military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, to prosecute Nazi war criminals in 1945, Mr. Dodd was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Review Board and later Executive Trial Counsel. He helped shape many of the strategies and policies at the trials and concentrated on proving the charge of conspiracy to wage aggressive war, the horrors of the concentration camp system, and the activities of Nazi organizations like the Gestapo and SS. He earned a bachelor's degree from Providence College and a law degree from the University of Louisville School of Law.  (See Photo)(Top of Page)

Stuart E. Eizenstat (Washington, D.C.) Stuart Eizenstat was sworn in as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury on July 19, 1999, making him the second-highest ranking official at the Treasury Department. Mr. Eizenstat also continues his work as Special Envoy for Property Claims in Central and Eastern Europe, reporting to the President, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of State. Mr. Eizenstat previously served as Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs, earning the Distinguished Honor Award; Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Administration; and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, earning the Foreign Affairs Award for Public Service, the highest award to a non-career Ambassador. In these roles, he led the government's renewed efforts to achieve justice for Holocaust victims and their families. From 1977 to 1981, Mr. Eizenstat was President Carter's chief domestic policy adviser. Mr. Eizenstat received his law degree from Harvard University and is an honors graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (See Photo)(Top of Page)

The Honorable Ben Gilman (Middletown, NY) was elected to his 13th term in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996. During the 1981 session of the United Nations, he served as Congressional Delegate to the U.N. Rep. Gilman has served on the Ukraine Famine Commission, the U.S.-European and the U.S.-Mexican Inter-parliamentary Conferences, the International Task Force on Narcotics, as Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, as Congressional Advisor to the U.N. Law of the Sea Conference, as co-chair of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs and as an Executive Member of the Human Rights Caucus. In 1993, he was appointed as a Member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. He earned his B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and Finance and his LL.B. from the New York Law School. (See Photo)(Top of Page)

Patrick T. Henry has served as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs since August, 1998. Mr. Henry graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1972 and served for 20 years in the United States Marine Corps. He held command and staff positions in Marine Corps tank units, commanded an Army tank training company at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and served on the staff of two Secretaries of Defense. In 1992, Mr. Henry retired from the Marine Corps and became the Chief of Staff of the American Red Cross, a position he held until joining the professional staff of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services in 1993. (See Photo)(Top of Page)

Roman R. Kent (Stamford, CT) was born in Lodz, Poland and spent 1939-45 in the Lodz Ghetto and in the Auschwitz, Mertzbachtal, Dornau and Flossenburg Concentration Camps. Mr. Kent is President of Namor International Corporation, an international trading company. He serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and also serves on the Boards of Tel Aviv University and the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous. Mr. Kent produced the documentary, Children in the Holocaust, partially filmed in Auschwitz, which won the New York International Film Festival Award. (Top of Page)

The Honorable Rick A. Lazio (Brightwaters, NY) was elected in 1992 to the House of Representatives. At the beginning of the 105th Congress, he was named to the post of Assistant Majority Leader. He also serves as Deputy Majority Whip. He chairs the House Banking Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity. Before serving in the U.S. House, he served on the Suffolk County Legislature, and he has been named Chairman of the 1999 National Italian-American Convention. He graduated from Vassar College and earned his law degree from American University. (See Photo)(Top of Page)

Ira H. Leesfield (Coral Gables, FL) is a founding partner in the law firm of Leesfield Leighton Rubio & Mahfood. He has served as a Fellow of the American Bar Association and as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Miami School of Law. Mr. Leesfield is Senior Florida Governor to the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, has twice been awarded the Wiedman Wisocki medal for outstanding advocacy, is the author of numerous articles and publications and is a frequent featured speaker at Continuing Legal Education programs. Governor Lawton Chiles appointed Mr. Leesfield to the Constitution Revision Committee, charged with re-writing Florida's Constitution. Mr. Leesfield is a member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and is a sponsor for several college scholarship programs. He earned B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Florida and an L.L.M. from George Washington University Law Center. (See Photo)(Top of Page)

Miles Lerman (Vineland, NJ) is the Chairman of the Holocaust Memorial Council. (Top of Page)

The Honorable James H. Maloney (Danbury, CT)  has represented Danbury, Waterbury, and Meriden Connecticut in the House of Representatives since his election in 1996. He served in the Connecticut State Senate and General Assembly from 1986 to 1995. Mr. Maloney serves on the Committees on Banking and Financial Services and Armed Services. He received his BA from Harvard University and a law degree from Boston University; and is one of only three current Members of Congress who served as a Volunteer in Service to America (VISTA), which is now part of the AmeriCorps National Service Network. (See Photo)(Top of Page)

Dr. Jehuda Reinharz (Newton, MA) is President and the Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History at Brandeis University. He serves on the Boards of the United Israel Appeal/Jewish Agency, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Leo Baech Institute of New York. He is a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Dr. Reinharz has authored several books, his latest entitled Zionism and the Creation of a New Society. Born in Israel, he went to high school in Germany and earned bachelor's degrees from both Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary, his master's from Harvard University, and his doctorate from Brandeis University. (See Photo)(Top of Page)

Margaret (Peggy) Milner Richardson (Washington, D.C.) is associated with Ernst & Young, LLP in Washington. She served as Commissioner of Internal Revenue from 1993 to 1997. Earlier in her career, Ms. Richardson clerked at the U.S. Court of Claims and later joined the Office of Chief Counsel at the Internal Revenue Service, where she became the first woman promoted to executive rank. She serves on the Board of the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the Board of Advisors for George Washington Law School. Ms. Richardson earned her bachelor's degree from Vassar College and her law degree from George Washington School of Law. (See Photo)(Top of Page)

James Robinson has served as Assistant Attorney General - Criminal Division since June 1998. He previously served as Dean and Professor of Law at Wayne State University Law School, from which he graduated in 1968, and United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan from 1977 to 1980. Among the many offices Mr. Robinson oversees is the Office of Special Investigations (OSI), which detects and investigates individuals who took part in Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution who subsequently entered or sought to enter the US illegally. OSI takes appropriate legal action seeking exclusion, denaturalization and/or deportation. Mr. Robinson serves as the Co-Chair of the United States Interagency Commission on Crime and Security in U.S. Seaports and, from 1983 to 1984, was the Chair of the Governor's Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Michigan. (Top of Page)