Daniel Kahneman, Geraldine Kunstadter, and Elizabeth Barlow Rogers to Receive Gold Medals for 2018

Three to be Honored at 104th Annual Dinner in New York City on November 29

The National Institute of Social Sciences will honor Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman, philanthropist and international not-for-profit leader Geraldine Kunstadter, and author and landscape preservationist Elizabeth Barlow Rogers at its 104th Gold Medal Dinner on Thursday, November 29, 2018 at the Metropolitan Club in New York City.

“I am delighted to welcome three such distinguished contributors to society to the ranks of the National Institute’s Gold Medal honorees,” says Fred Larsen, president of the National Institute. “As the preamble to our organization’s constitution states, ‘Those whose public contributions make possible significant strides in sustaining and advancing society are role models for future generations.’ Our 2018 honorees deserve the highest praise and recognition for the role models they have become."

“We invite Institute members and guests to join us this November to celebrate their accomplishments,” he says.

Daniel Kahneman (top left) is professor emeritus of Psychology and Public Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School and the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton, and a fellow of the Center for Rationality at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, which won the National Academy of Sciences Book Award and was selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of 2011. Among his many honors, he has won the Warren Medal of the Society of Experimental Psychologists (1995), the Hilgard Award for Career Contributions to General Psychology (1995), the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (2002), the Lifetime Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association (2007), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2013). He is a member of the National Academy of Science, the Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Geraldine Kunstadter (center) is the chairman and president of the Albert Kunstadter Family Foundation, a private foundation actively engaged in domestic and international projects and programs. She brings to the foundation a background in languages, international affairs, and years of public service. In this role, she has spearheaded the funding of programs in Central America, southern Africa, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Mrs. Kunstadter has worked at the New York City Commission for the United Nations and Consular Corps, directed the Commission’s Host Family Program, and been an NGO Representative at the UN’s International Institute of Rural Reconstruction. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Overseas Development Council, the National Committee on United States-China Relations, and the Peace Links Leadership Network. A trustee of the National Institute of Social Sciences, she previously served as the organization’s president (1979-81).

Elizabeth Barlow Rogers (right) is the president of the Foundation for Landscape Studies. A native of San Antonio, she earned a B.A. degree from Wellesley College and an M.A. in city planning from Yale. In 1979, she was appointed administrator of Central Park in New York City. The following year, to mobilize citizen support for the park’s restoration and renewal, she initiated the Central Park Conservancy, the nation’s first public-private park partnership. She was the Conservancy’s president until 1996, when she founded the Cityscape Institute. In 2002, she created the Garden History and Landscape Studies curriculum at the Bard Graduate Center, and in 2005 she established the Foundation for Landscape Studies, with the mission to promote an active understanding of the meaning of place in human life through support of landscape-history scholarship, publication of the journal Site/Lines, and collaboration with other organizations and institutions on landscape-related projects. 

The National Institute has honored distinguished Americans with Gold Medals annually since 1913. Recipients are chosen by a Medals Committee appointed by the NISS president. Recent Gold Medal recipients include economists Paul Krugman and Robert Shiller, biographers Ron Chernow and Robert Caro, and historians Robert Putnam and Eric Foner, among others. National Institute members will receive details about the dinner in the fall.

For more information, please contact Dr. Timothy Cross, executive director, at 347-261-4567 or admin@socialsciencesinstitute.org.

About the National Institute of Social Sciences
Established in 1912, the National Institute of Social Sciences (www.socialsciencesinstitute.org) is a voluntary association of public-spirited citizens. Our members include social scientists, educators, business professionals, philanthropists, academics, and the intellectually curious who believe the social sciences offer broad and valuable insights into issues of urgent and lasting concern. The National Institute promotes the study of the social sciences, supports social science research and discussion, and honors individuals who have rendered distinguished service to humanity.

Board of Trustees Elects New Leadership

The Board of Trustees of the National Institute of Social Sciences is pleased to announce that Frederick R. Larsen, a managing director at Oppenheimer & Co., has been elected as its new president.

Richard Dyke Benjamin was elected as treasurer. Kent Barwick, Joan K. Davidson, Thomas F. Pike, Nicholas A. Robinson and William H. Told, Jr. were reelected as vice presidents, and Gracey Stoddard was reelected secretary.

“I am delighted to take the reins of this great organization with such experienced and enthusiastic fellow officers to guide and assist me,” says Mr Larsen. “The energy and promise I have seen among the members of this organization are exciting.”

Mr. Larsen succeeds Chauncey G. Olinger, Jr., who remains one of the organization’s trustees.

Mr. Larsen is managing director at Oppenheimer & Co., where he runs the transportation and logistics investment banking practice. He has over 27 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and capital raising across multiple sectors. He has an A.B. (cum laude) from Princeton University in politics and an M.B.A. from the Columbia Business School with Beta Gamma Sigma honors.

Mr. Benjamin is a managing director at Axiom Capital Management in New York. Previously, he was a director of Lazard Asset Management. Mr. Benjamin is a project consultant for AKA Strategy, a strategic advisor to not-for-profit organizations, and an advisor and board member for several philanthropic and religious organizations. He holds a B.A. from Harvard College and a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

About the National Institute of Social Sciences
Established in 1912, the National Institute of Social Sciences (socialsciencesinstitute.org) is an honorary society of Americans dedicated by service and philanthropy to the public good and joined together to recognize and celebrate those who have achieved at the highest level. In addition to presenting its Gold Medals each year, the National Institute makes grants to graduate students in the social sciences and has a vibrant chapter in Palm Beach, Florida.