Morgenthau to receive public service award

District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau was honored with the prestigious Franklin Delano Roosevelt Distinguished Public Service Award at a dinner on October 28 at The Plaza Hotel. This celebratory dinner will directly benefit the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park. "We are pleased to honor District Attorney Morgenthau as a most deserving recipient of this award. With his outstanding public service and contributions to our society, he remains a true reflection of the ideals that Franklin D. Roosevelt advocated. His office has been an extraordinary training ground for America's leading lawyers and judges. Bob Morgenthau will also be honored at the site of the soon to be built Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, where the Morgenthau family contribution to American life will be specifically noted," said William vanden Heuvel, founder and chair emeritus of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and chair of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, LLC. Robert Morgenthau has carried on his family legacy of living a life of public service. The Roosevelt and Morgenthau families were Hudson River neighbors who frequently visited each other. His father, Henry Morgenthau, Jr. served as Secretary of Treasury under FDR and was a close advisor and confidant. Bob Morgenthau began his own career in public service in the summer of 1941 by enlisting as an officer in the United States Navy. He served four and a half years on active duty during World War II. In 1961, after 12 years of practicing corporate law, Morgenthau was appointed United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York by John F. Kennedy. In 1974, he was elected the District Attorney of New York County. He has served nine terms as an influential leader in sustaining the rule of law in our community and country. Bob Morgenthau also serves as chairman of the Police Athletic League, a group he has worked with since 1962, as well as Chairman of the Museum of Jewish Heritage -- A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. "Robert Morgenthau shares many ideals with Franklin D. Roosevelt, and represents non-partisan integrity in the face of justice. He is also one of the few among us who personally knew the President and Mrs. Roosevelt. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park will be a tribute to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Four Freedoms and an opportunity to honor Bob as a great leader who shaped progressive society, just as President Roosevelt did," said Sally Minard, president and chief executive officer of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, LLC. The Park was recently granted approval by the board of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) to construct Phase 1. With site preparation underway, the Park is scheduled for official groundbreaking in spring 2010. Many believe the park will be a universal landmark upon completion, for New Yorkers and world visitors alike. Support and endorsements for the Park have been forthcoming from many public and civic organizations, as well as elected officials including Governor David Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The design of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park was commissioned by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller in 1973, and supported over the past three decades by New York Governors Wilson, Carey, Cuomo, Spitzer and Paterson. Two years ago, the City and State recommitted to the public and private partnership to finally realize this extraordinary civic space. Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park will be a landscaped park on four acres at the southern end of Roosevelt Island, south of the landmarked Renwick Ruin and directly across from the United Nations. The Park was designed specifically for the site by the renowned architect Louis I. Kahn to honor President Roosevelt with an enduring reminder of the Four Freedoms. It will be the first and only Louis I. Kahn architectural work in New York City. Donors are invited to sponsor one of 150 Little Leaf Linden trees arranged in allées to border the east and west of the great lawn. Franklin D. Roosevelt was responsible for planting over two billion trees throughout the United States under the auspices of the Civilian Conservation Corporation, which he created. These trees at the Park continue that legacy. To sponsor a Freedom Tree or make a donation of any size to help build the Park, visit www.fdrfourfreedomspark.org. "Let's build it now and rebuild something in us all."