The Honorable Tom Lantos, 1928 - 2008. Recipient of the "One from the Heart Award"
To be presented by The Honorable Tom Campbell, Friend and Colleague of Congressman Lantos, 101st - 106st Congresses
Received on behalf of The Lantos Family and the Lantos Foundation by Foundation Trustee Evelyn Szelenyi
Distinguished Chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Co-Founder of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, Tom Lantos was the only Holocaust survivor ever to be elected to the US Congress. Alongside human rights, health care was also a significant concern for Congressman Lantos. He understood the importance of hospice care and knew how critical the Medicare hospice benefit was to all Americans. Whenever approached about preserving this benefit, he provided his solid support.
Congressman Lantos worked tirelessly to strengthen the role of human rights in American foreign policy. Before his death in 2008, he requested that The Lantos Foundation be established in his name to advance the important work of standing up for our nation’s most important values of decency, dignity, freedom and justice in every corner of the world.
Quote from Congresswoman Jackie Speier, 12th Congressional District:
“It is more than fitting for Congressman Lantos to receive the John W. Gardner Visionary Award. Tom Lantos was truly a visionary when it came to health care, always fighting for those unable to fight for themselves and doing all he could to make sure that hospice care and other services directed toward the most frail in society were funded at adequate levels.
I thank Pathways for recognizing Congressman Lantos with this award.”