April 22, 2014
The Civic Federation’s Annual Civic Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, June 25, 2014 will celebrate Ann Lurie and Northern Trust, two honorees who exemplify the high standard of civic commitment that has come to define the City of Chicago. The awards are named in honor of the prominent civic leaders who founded the Civic Federation in 1894: Jane Addams, Bertha Honoré Palmer and Lyman J. Gage.
Ann Lurie, president of Lurie Holdings and president of the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Foundation, will receive the Lyman J. Gage Award for Outstanding Civic Contribution by an Individual. The award honors a Chicagoan who has consistently demonstrated dedication to civic and community concerns.
As president of the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Foundation, Ann Lurie has embraced a hands-on approach to philanthropy that meets critical needs today while generating valuable momentum for the future. Ms. Lurie and her late husband endowed the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University in 1989, while he was receiving cancer treatment at Northwestern. Since Robert Lurie’s death in 1990, Ms. Lurie has continued the couple’s commitment to funding medical treatment, research, education and prevention.
Ms. Lurie committed lead funding for the Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center at Northwestern in 2000 and pledged $100 million to fund construction of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago in 2007. She has also provided transformational funding and encouragement to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Lurie Garden at Millennium Park, the Lurie Family Spay/Neuter Clinic at PAWS and Gilda’s Club, a support community for those touched by cancer. Globally, Ms. Lurie founded and operated the AID (Africa Infectious Disease) Village Clinics from 2000 to 2012 and continues to provide critical support for African health care systems, physicians, medical personnel and aspiring medical students.
Northern Trust will be presented with the Addams-Palmer Award for Exemplary Civic Involvement, given each year in recognition of outstanding civic participation by an institution. Frederick H. Waddell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Northern Trust, will accept the award on behalf of the company.
Established in 1966, the Northern Trust Charitable Trust’s primary focus is to reach out to people in the Chicago area who are in need or who face obstacles that impede their full participation in society. The Trust currently supports organizations that serve Chicago’s Humboldt Park, Logan Square, West Town, Loop, Englewood, Chatham and Washington Park communities. Recent initiatives made possible by the Trust’s generosity include financial coaching for low-income families at the Center for Economic Progress, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) coaching for minority students through Project SYNCERE (Supporting Youth’s Needs with Core Engineering Research Experiments), venture philanthropy funding for high performing nonprofits through A Better Chicago and science education programming at the Museum of Science and Industry.
Northern Trust also encourages and creates opportunities for its employees to volunteer in their communities. In 1993 Northern Trust became one of the first corporate donors supporting the Working in the Schools volunteer program. The partnership started with ten Northern Trust volunteers working closely with students at Peabody School in West Town. By 2003, over 100 Northern Trust employees were devoting their lunch hours to reading one-on-one with students throughout the school year. Northern Trust estimates that their employees have helped over 850 Peabody students learn to read, donating nearly 14,000 hours of their time since the partnership was launched.
Both awards will be presented at a luncheon attended by Chicago’s civic and business leaders on Wednesday, June 25, 2014 at the Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park, with the reception starting at 11:30 a.m. and the program at noon. To purchase a table or individual reservation for the event, please contact PJH & Associates at (312) 553-2000 or visit civicfed.org/events for more information.
The Civic Federation gratefully acknowledges luncheon co-chairs Lester Crown, Anne Dias Griffin, Andrew J. McKenna and Michael J. Sacks for their leadership of this event.