Haute 100 NY Update: Mayor Michael Bloomberg Awarded Yad Vashem Remembrance Award for ‘Visionary Leadership’

The American Society for Yad Vashem, a holocaust remembrance and education organization, recently honored Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his “visionary leadership in the city of New York, his generous support of Holocaust remembrance and his philanthropic work in shaping a better future.”

More than 1,000 New Yorkers gathered in midtown on Sunday night to watch Bloomberg accept the prestigious Yad Vashem Remembrance Award. “If I have a sincere regret this evening, it is that my parents did not live to see me receive your award,” he told the crowd, which included donors, ambassadors, Holocaust survivors and their families.

“For them, the creation of the state of Israel, a permanent homeland for the Jewish people, was truly a realization of a dream. From them, my sister and I inherited a lifelong devotion to Israel,” he continued.

Despite Bloomberg’s many achievements throughout his tenure as mayor, the 71-year-old philanthropist told the audience that one of his proudest moments in office was when he headed the 2005 U.S. delegation at the opening of the Holocaust history museum at Yad Vashem. “It was an incredibly moving experience,” he revealed.