FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 1, 2007
Contact:Tami Holzman, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications, (202) 265-3000, tami@rabinowitz-dorf.com
Polish Ambassador to Open Second Honorary Consulate in California
Tad Taube to be Officially Named Honorary Consul in Ceremony
SAN FRANCISCO – Janusz Reiter, the Polish Ambassador to the United States, will open an Honorary Consulate in the Bay Area as part of the official inauguration of San Francisco philanthropist Tad Taube to the position of Honorary Polish Consul. The Polish government chose Taube in recognition of his tremendous contribution to Poland, from which he emigrated as a child fleeing World War II.
The joint dedication and inauguration ceremony will be held October 5, 2007 beginning at 11:30 a.m. at historic Ralston Hall in Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California, where the new honorary consulate will be located.
“I am truly honored to meet with the Polish Ambassador and accept the title of Honorary Consul of Poland. I look forward to being able to serve as a conduit for the good will between the people and the leaders of both my native and my adopted countries,” said Taube.
As Honorary Consul, Taube is empowered to represent the government of Poland in the United States in the same capacity as a professional consular officer. Taube’s designation is the second significant honor conferred upon him by the government of Poland; in 2004, then Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski awarded Taube the Commander’s Cross, the second highest civilian medal for foreigners.
Mr. Taube was born in Krakow, Poland in 1931 and immigrated to the United States in the summer of 1939, just weeks before the outbreak of World War II. Taube has dedicated his life to efforts strengthening the Jewish communities in both the United States and Poland and to building a close connection between the two.
Through his foundation’s international program, the Jewish Heritage Initiative in Poland, Mr. Taube has spearheaded the efforts to preserve and celebrate Jewish heritage and history, primarily through his leadership in Warsaw’s planned Museum of the History of the Polish Jews and the Jewish Historical Institute, as well as the Jewish Cultural Festival in Krakow.
For the past 25 years, Mr. Taube has also served as president of the Koret Foundation. At Stanford University, Taube is a trustee of the Hoover Institution, has served as chairman of the advisory board for the Taube Center for Jewish Studies since its inception in 1986, and has provided major support for the Taube Hillel House. In 2001, he helped found the Taube-Koret Campus for Jewish Life, which will strengthen and enhance Jewish community life on the South Peninsula, the Bay Area’s fastest-growing Jewish population.
