On January 11, 2016, at a ceremony held at the House of the Academy in Cambridge, Chair of the Board Don M. Randel and President Jonathan F. Fanton presented the Academy’s Scholar-Patriot Award to business leader and entrepreneur Morton L. Mandel in recognition of his philanthropy and dedication to public service.
The Scholar-Patriot Award is given for extraordinary contributions of individuals who share the vision of service held by the founders of the American Academy. Previous recipients of the award include cellist and educator Yo-Yo Ma, U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and William T. Golden, a leading architect of twentieth-century American science policy.
Scholar-Patriot AwardJanuary 11, 2016 CitationFor more than seventy years, your energy, generosity, and dedication to the public good have known no bounds. From humble beginnings, your parents instilled within you the basic values of integrity, respect, honesty, decency and generosity. With your brothers and these core values, you built a thriving global corporation dedicated to the principles of delivering quality products and exceptional service, and the simple yet powerful philosophy: if you find a need, fill it. In your work and your philanthropy, you have developed leaders with passion and intellect. You have modeled the lessons learned early in life to share resources and to be generous relative to your capability, and have inspired generations of leaders in higher education, the Jewish community, and nonprofit organizations to change the world and improve the human condition. You have taught us to dream and to believe dreams can be realized. We are better off because of you. Business leader, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and dedicated public servant, you are the model of the enlightened, informed, and passionate leader. We honor your outstanding commitment to the community, the nation, and the world. |
Morton L. Mandel is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Parkwood LLC, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. With his brothers Jack and Joseph, he founded the Premier Industrial Corporation, which later became one of the world’s leading industrial parts and electronic components distributors. Mr. Mandel served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation from 1957 to 1996.
Mr. Mandel also serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Foundation, which funds numerous social leadership initiatives in the United States and Israel. The work of the Foundation is grounded in the belief that exceptional leaders, inspired by powerful ideas, are key to improving society and the lives of people around the world. The Mandel Foundation has identified five areas of engagement that influence its decisions for giving: leadership of nonprofits, management of nonprofit and public sector institutions, Jewish education, humanities in education and the arts, and urban renewal.
Mr. Mandel serves on the Board of Governors of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and is a Life or Honorary Trustee of Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the United Way of Cleveland, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, the Jewish Community Centers of North America, and the Jewish Federations of North America. He is the author of It’s All About Who (2012). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011.
After the award ceremony, the Garden Room in the House of the Academy was dedicated in honor of Mr. Mandel and named the Morton L. Mandel Garden Room.