The PNC Financial Services Group announces the winners of the 2001 Common Wealth Awards of Distinguished Service. The awards are presented annually to individuals who have enriched and advanced humanity through their exceptional lifetime achievements.
PNC Bank, Delaware, trustee for the awards for 22 years, presented a shared prize of $250,000 to the honorees at a black-tie ceremony held tonight at the Hotel du Pont.
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Winners of this year's Common Wealth Awards are:
* Morgan Freeman, veteran actor acclaimed for his classic, commanding
roles on stage screen and television, for Dramatic Arts;
* J. Craig Venter, biochemist, entrepreneur and gene pioneer who succeeded
in unlocking the human genetic code, for Science and Invention;
* James Nachtwey, renowned photojournalist who has chronicled the human
anguish of war, genocide and famine worldwide, for Mass Communications;
* Philip Roth, Pulitzer Prize winner regarded as a literary giant among
America's postwar generation of writers, for Literature;
* Dr. William Magee and Kathleen Magee, founders of Operation Smile, which
aids children with facial deformities around the world, for Public
Service.
"The 2001 Common Wealth Award winners are people who believe they can make a difference and do," said Calvert A. Morgan, Jr., chairman, president and CEO of PNC Bank, Delaware. "Their enduring contributions have touched all of us today and stand as a legacy to future generations. PNC is privileged to honor these remarkable achievers for their grand talents and triumphs."
The Common Wealth Awards were first presented in 1979 to reward and encourage the best of human performance. Since that time, 132 honorees of international renown have received more than $2 million in cash prizes conferred by the awards.
Funding for the awards comes from a trust set up by the late Ralph Hayes, an influential business executive and philanthropist. From 1943 to 1965, Hayes served on the board of directors of predecessors to the present-day PNC Bank. Through his endowment, he sought to recognize outstanding achievement in seven areas of human endeavor: mass communications, public service, dramatic arts, science and invention, literature, government and sociology.
The Common Wealth honorees rank among the most gifted and famous people in modern history. Ten past honorees have been winners of the Nobel Prize, such as international human rights leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Other luminaries on the Common Wealth roster include dance legend Mikhail Baryshnikov; former First Lady, Betty Ford; and father of the polio vaccine, the late Jonas Salk.
Through their signature contributions, the 2001 honorees exemplify the richness of talent and standards of excellence symbolized by the Common Wealth Awards.
Morgan Freeman, 64, winner of the 2001 Common Wealth Award for Dramatic Arts, has spent more than 30 years forging a distinguished and varied acting career. Regarded as one of America's classic male actors, Freeman is acclaimed for his eloquence, stature and consistency. His often heroic characters convey an honesty and likeability that have endeared the actor to audiences. His theater work has ranged from musicals to drama to Shakespeare, earning him three Obie Awards and a Drama Desk Award. He has received three Oscar nominations for his movie performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy and The Shawshank Redemption. He has delivered standout performances in Glory, Amistad and the 2000 release of Nurse Betty. Freeman is founder of Revelations Entertainment, a production company where he has pursued his interests in producing and directing.
J. Craig Venter, 54, is awarded the 2001 Common Wealth Award for Science and Invention, for his radical but successful techniques to unlock the human genetic code. A biochemist and trailblazer, Venter is president of Celera Genomics, where he pioneered high-speed methods of decoding and sequencing the human genome. In 1998, Venter stirred controversy by announcing that his company would finish mapping human DNA three years sooner than the federally financed Human Genome Project (HGP), which had been underway since 1990. What followed was the race to sequence the human genome, with Venter being credited as the principal decoder. In June 2000, Venter and HGP announced jointly that they had decoded nearly the entire set of human genes, a discovery that is expected to alter the course of science and medicine throughout the 21st century. Venter's bold initiative helped usher in this new era years sooner than predicted.
James Nachtwey, 53, stands as a legend among modern-day photojournalists. He receives the 2001 Common Wealth Award for Mass Communications. For more than 20 years, Nachtwey has traversed the world's most chaotic and dangerous spots -- from Central America to Northern Ireland to the Balkan nations to Africa -- where he has captured gruesome images of human suffering and carnage. Nachtwey is renowned for his ability to reveal human beauty and tenderness in the midst of harshness and pain. His photos have appeared in magazines, newspapers and books where he hopes they will provoke public anger and action to change the world. His latest book, Inferno, documents the brutality of the 1990s in developing countries. Nachtwey is one of the world's most honored photojournalists, receiving tributes that include Magazine Photographer of the Year six times and the Robert Capa Gold Medal from the Overseas Press Club five times.
Philip Roth, 67, renowned as an author of conscience and comedy, wins the 2001 Common Wealth Award for Literature. He has produced a substantial body of fiction that is at once distinguished and outrageous. Roth is acclaimed for his inventiveness, his comic genius and his special gift for playing "make-believe with reality." His best-known works include the infamous and hugely successful Portnoy's Complaint, the Zuckerman Unbound trilogy, Patrimony, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Pastoral. Critics have called his books "America's most raucously funny novels." The author's Jewish-American upbringing in Newark, New Jersey, has been a well-spring for his wit and humor. Roth has been writing for more than 40 years, earning a host of major literary awards. Time magazine described him as "a writer who has mastered his craft and come to know and enjoy who he is and what he came from." His latest novel, The Human Stain, was published in 2000.
Dr. William Magee, 57, and Kathleen Magee, 55, have spent the past 18 years changing the face of the future by helping children suffering with facial deformities. For their humanitarian efforts, the Magees are awarded the 2001 Common Wealth Award for Public Service. The Magees are the husband-and-wife founders of Operation Smile, an organization that provides free reconstructive surgery and related health care to poor children in developing countries and the U.S. The Magees devote half their lives to Operation Smile, which depends on volunteer labor, donated equipment and supplies to carry out its missions. The Magees and their volunteer teams work tirelessly to correct cleft palates, cleft lips and other birth defects, helping deformed children come out of hiding and lead lives of dignity and hope. William Magee believes that Operation Smile's collaboration for the poor shows that "humanity and acts of kindness are free of political, cultural and ethnic barriers."
PNC Advisors is administrator of the Common Wealth Trust. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PNC Advisors is one of the nation's largest wealth managers, with over $65 billion in assets under management, and is a member of The PNC Financial Services Group. It provides a full range of tailored investment and traditional banking solutions to affluent individuals and families, including full-service brokerage through J.J.B. Hilliard, W.L. Lyons, Inc., a registered broker-dealer and member of NASD and SIPC. PNC Advisors also serves as investment manager and trustee for employee benefit plans, and charitable and endowment assets. PNC Advisors currently operates in 21 states and serves over 320,000 clients.
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SOURCE: PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
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Website: http://www.pnc.com/
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