Press Releases

April 26, 1999
Peter Willner Wins Distinguished Alumnus Award from Southampton College

Advocate for Jewish Community to be Honored at Commencement Ceremony May 23

Contact:
Jane Finalborgo
Joe Dionisio
(516) 287 8313
Fax: (516) 283 4081

Southampton, NY-- Peter Willner, the Associate National Director and Chief Operating Officer for the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, one of the nation's oldest civil rights groups, will receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award during the May 23 commencement ceremony at Southampton College of Long Island University.

Willner, who lives in Fairfield, Connecticut, earned a B.A. in Sociology in 1967, when he became a member of Southampton College's inaugural graduating class.

Since joining the ADL in 1991, Willner has combated anti-Semitism, racism and bias in all forms. Under his guidance, a restructured ADL increased its budget from $24 million to $48 million, and grew by decentralizing its operation to regional offices.

"We had major financial difficulties," said Willner, "but we've made great strides and have been in the a black since 1991."

After earning a doctorate in Education from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in 1975, he joined the Massachusetts State Department of Education and was instrumental in establishing regulations and programs to mainstream children with special needs back into public schools. He then moved to Connecticut, where he was the Executive Director for Cooperative Educational Services, one of the state's six Public School Regional Education Service Centers. There, he created the Educational Center for Autistic Children, which today is one of the finest centers of its kind in the northeast.

In 1987, Willner focused his energies on Jewish communal concerns. As Executive Director of Organization and Development for the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, he successfully merged that organization with the United Jewish Appeal of New York.

An adroit administrator, Willner is an Overseer of Southampton College, a Trustee for the Jewish Home for the Elderly in Fairfield, Ct., and a past Trustee for the American Association of Educational Service Agencies.

He has a wife, Jane, and two children-- Nicole, who works at Sloan Kettering Medical Center, and David, a sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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