• President George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st President of the United States.
• Chancellor Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel is the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.
• Congressman John Lewis
John Lewis is an American hero and a giant of the Civil Rights Movement.
• John H. Adams
John H. Adams co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council in 1970.
• Maya Angelou
Dr. Maya Angelou is a prominent and celebrated author, poet, educator, producer, actress, filmmaker, and civil rights activist, who is currently the Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.
• Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett is an American investor, industrialist, and philanthropist. He is one of the most successful investors in the world.
• Jasper Johns
American artist Jasper Johns has produced a distinguished body of work dealing with themes of perception and identity since the mid-1950s.
• Gerda Weissmann Klein
Gerda Weissmann Klein is a Jewish Holocaust survivor who has written several books about her experiences.
• Dr. Tom Little (Posthumous)
Dr. Tom Little was an optometrist who was brutally murdered on August 6, 2010, by the Taliban in the Kuran Wa Munjan district of Badakhshan, Afghanistan, along with nine other members of a team returning from a humanitarian mission to provide vision care in the remote Parun valley of Nuristan.
• Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is considered the world's greatest living cellist, recognized as a prodigy since the age of five whose celebrity transcends the world of classical music.
• Sylvia Mendez
Sylvia Mendez is a civil rights activist of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent.
• Stan Musial
Stan “The Man” Musial is a baseball legend and Hall of Fame first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals. Musial played 22 seasons for the Cardinals from 1941 to 1963.
• Bill Russell
Bill Russell is the former Boston Celtics' Captain who almost single-handedly redefined the game of basketball.
• Jean Kennedy Smith
In 1974, Jean Kennedy Smith founded VSA, a non-profit organization affiliated with the John F. Kennedy Center that promotes the artistic talents of children, youth and adults with disabilities.
• John J. Sweeney
John J. Sweeney is the current President Emeritus of the AFL-CIO, and served as President of the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2009.
(Source: www.whitehouse.gov)
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday praised Warren Buffett for amassing one of the world's largest fortunes — and for pledging to give nearly all of it away.
Buffett was one of 15 people to receive the Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, during an East Room ceremony at the White House. The honorees included artists, athletes, world leaders and civil rights activists.
“For all the money he's earned, you don't see Warren Buffett wearing fancy suits or driving fancy cars,” Obama said before hanging the medal around the Oracle of Omaha's neck. “Instead, you see him devoting the vast majority of his wealth to those around the world who are suffering or sick or in need of help.”
Buffett entered Tuesday's ceremony between Maya Angelou and George H. W. Bush. When asked about being honored alongside the renowned poet and respected former president, Buffett pointed instead to two other medal recipients.
“The ones you should compare me with are Bill Russell and Stan Musial,” Buffett told The World-Herald, laughing.
He then conceded he would have a hard time matching up against Russell, the Boston Celtics low-post great, or Musial, the Hall of Fame first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals.
“There was a lot of athletic talent up there, and when I left there was still as much as there was before,” he said.
Buffett is chairman and chief executive officer of Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., and he advised Obama's presidential campaign.
His fortune is estimated at $45 billion, according to Forbes magazine, nearly all of which he has decided to donate to charity.
Along with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Buffett created the Giving Pledge, a campaign that encourages wealthy Americans to donate at least 50 percent of their money to philanthropy.
The Medal of Freedom is presented to individuals who have made “especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”
Obama said there is meaning behind the selection of each recipient. The decision to honor artist Jasper Johns, for example, reflects the value of originality and imagination.
“When we award it to a Warren Buffett, it says we'd all like to be so humble and wise, and maybe make a little money along the way,” Obama said.
Obama praised Buffett's savvy investing sense, his personal devotion to philanthropy and his leadership in encouraging other wealthy individuals to donate.
“We know Warren Buffett not only as one of the world's richest men, but also one of the most admired and respected,” Obama said. “Unmoved by financial fads, he has doggedly sought out value, put his weight behind companies with promise and demonstrated that integrity isn't just a good trait, it is good for business.”
Obama also commented on Buffett's famed frugality.
“I should point out he's so thrifty I had to give him a White House tie the last time he came here to visit,” Obama said. “His was looking a little shredded. So then when Bill Gates came, he wanted one, too.”
Contact the writer:
202-630-4823, joe.morton@owh.com
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