Fund for Peace Launches the James R. Compton Peace Award

Fund for Peace
Thursday, 31 January 2002

The Fund for Peace will inaugurate the James R. Compton Peace Award with a dinner at Stanford University today that will gather more than 120 local, regional, national and international leaders from business, academe, and the nonprofit sector.

James Compton is a California-based philanthropist whose generosity and service have encouraged the growth of civil society around the globe and promoted causes ranging from the protection of the environment to human rights. He is also Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Fund for Peace. Dr. Pauline H. Baker, President of The Fund for Peace, will present the Award; Dr. William Perry, former Secretary of Defense, is guest speaker; and Dr. Gloria Duffy, CEO of the Commonwealth Club of California is chair of the event's Honorary Committee.

This Award brings special attention to the vital importance of individuals working for peace. The life of James R. Compton epitomizes a steadfast and ongoing commitment to the ideal and the process. "Since September 11th, many people have observed that we should take the time to appreciate people who matter in our lives," notes Pauline Baker. "Our intent is to fulfill that call by singling out persons who matter to their community, their country and the global family of nations. Jim Compton certainly does this as he gives new meaning to the phrase -- a decent human being," Dr. Baker concluded.

Compton's generosity for the common good is matched by his personal frugality and adherence to his values even in the minutia of daily life. Gerald Levy, Vice Chair of The Fund for Peace Board of Trustees and a long-time friend of Compton's, recalls an episode that illustrates this combination. "My wife Marion and I once invited Jim to a meeting to which he was very late. He had walked a mile and a half from the station to our house in order not to take expensive and air-polluting taxis," Levy observes and adds that "Compton is a man with principles, and with the determination to carry them out."

The Award will bear James Compton's name in perpetuity and will be conferred in future years to outstanding individuals who are working for world peace and who emulate the values demonstrated by Compton during his lifetime.

For more information, or to contact Fund for Peace, see their website at: www.fundforpeace.org