2009 Louis B. Marshall Award Dinner Honoring Gershon Kekst

About the Louis B. Marshall Award

Established in 1956, the Louis B. Marshall Award was conceived to recognize those men and women who demonstrate the exemplary ethics and communal commitment that Louis Marshall embodied. He was an esteemed constitutional lawyer and a prominent figure in the Jewish community, passionately committed to JTS, where he led the board as chairman from 1904 until his death in 1929.

This year, The Jewish Theological Seminary was honored to present the Louis B. Marshall Award to Gershon Kekst, founder and president of Kekst and Company Incorporated and visionary chair of JTS's Board of Trustees for eighteen dynamic and innovative years. Highlights of his tenure include presiding over the creation of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education and the appointment of JTS Chancellor Arnold Eisen, and overseeing the development of new JTS partnerships around the world and across the American Jewish community. Mr. Kekst currently holds the position of Chairman Emeritus of JTS.

Mr. Kekst is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Governors of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and member of the Board of Directors at Brandeis University.

Established in 1970, Kekst and Company is a communications consultancy firm specializing in strategic, corporate, and financial communications. The firm's clients reach across nearly every industry and range from large, global companies to smaller, privately held businesses.

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More than XX people paid tribute to Mr. Kekst at the 2009 Louis Marshall Award Dinner held on November 4 at The Waldorf=Astoria.

Event Photos


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Past Award Recipients

  • 2008: Robert S. Kaplan
  • 2007: Jeanette and Joe Neubauer
  • 2006: Abby and Howard Milstein
  • 2005: Laura and Richard D. Parsons
  • 2004: Faculty and Students
  • 2003: Gerald Rosenfeld
  • 2002: Daryl and Steven Roth
  • 2001: Paul Miller
  • 2001: Abby Joseph Cohen
  • 2000: Robert Hurst
  • 2000: Ivan Seidenberg
  • 1999: Robert H. Benmosche
  • 1998: Riki and Stanley Tulin
  • 1997: John Reed
  • 1996: Joanne and Michael Masin
  • 1995: Dr. Sue Bailey and Alex J. Mandle
  • 1994: Nina A. and Walter H. Weiner
  • 1993: Sanford I. Weill
  • 1992: Franklin Thomas
  • 1991: Lester Crown
  • 1990: Gershon Kekst
  • 1989: Martin Lipton