Winners

Virtually every LGBTQ organization in Philadelphia has benefited from Heifetz’s generosity, including the William Way LGBT Center whose mortgage he paid off in 2005. He is the founder and benefactor of the Philadelphia Foundation’s multimillion-dollar GLBT Fund of America. In 2017, Heifetz announced a $16 million endowed gift to the Philadelphia Foundation to support LGBTQ-serving organizations, including the Attic Youth Center, GALAEI, and the Trevor Project. Heifetz was key to identifying the need and providing early philanthropic support to address the problem of LGBTQ youth homelessness. An instrumental early supporter, he helped to break ground on Project HOME’s new Gloria Casarez Residence, which will provide 30 LGBTQ-friendly affordable homes for young adults who are homeless, have experienced, or are at risk of homelessness, including those aging out of foster care. Heifetz is also renowned for his public policy activism, and has been a major political contributor to candidates supportive of LGBTQ rights. His contributions have kept several HIV/AIDS nonprofits afloat, and at the peak of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s, he put countless uninsured people with the virus on his company’s health insurance plan. Additionally, he formed a sustaining relationship with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which stems from a time when a coffeehouse owned by Heifetz – known for welcoming all people, including interracial and gay couples – was shut down by local police; ACLU attorneys defended Heifetz. Born to working class Jewish parents, he began cleaning his parents’ hair salon and selling household products door-to-door with his father at age 9. An Eagle Scout, he later offered to buy the Boy Scouts of America’s Philadelphia headquarters for $1.5 million, at a time when the national Scouting organization excluded gays, so that the building could be given to a nonprofit that does not discriminate. Heifetz joined the Army at age 18 and was stationed in Germany; upon his return, he studied real estate for one year at Temple University. Over his professional career, Heifetz has built several successful hospitality and residential businesses. He opened the city’s first gay hotel, The Alexander Inn, and owned three of the most prominent gay and lesbian bars in Philadelphia, as well as hotel and bar properties in Key West, Florida. Among numerous community honors, he received the 2015 Humanitarian of the Year award from the William Way Center and the 2008 Equality Award from the Philadelphia Human Rights Campaign.

Blockson’s passion for history and books began at the age of nine when a teacher asserted “Negroes have no history”. That experience as a young child marked the start of a lifelong journey of unearthing, collecting, and preserving the history, culture, and contributions of African descendants. Over the years, his research and travels have inspired him to write 12 books on the topic, making him one of the foremost experts on the Underground Railroad In 1984, Blockson donated his personal collection of rare publications and artifacts related to African American history and culture to Temple University. The Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, one of the nation’s leading research facilities for the study of the history and culture of people of African descent, now contains more than 500,000 books, documents, and photographs. Blockson is a co-founder of the African American Museum in Philadelphia. He has contributed books and other historical items to the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African-Americana and the African Diaspora at the Pennsylvania State University and the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NAAMHC) at the Smithsonian Institution. A recent donation to NAAMHC includes 39 of Harriet Tubman’s personal items – highlighted by the shawl that Queen Victoria presented to Tubman, the “crowing jewel” of Blockson’s collection. Blockson has also spearheaded efforts to have various State Historical Markers placed throughout Philadelphia as part of the commemoration of the some of the history and events that have shaped the African American experience in the Philadelphia region, including a marker placed along Penn’s Landing, which commemorates the lives of enslaved Africans brought to local ports during the Pennsylvania slave trade era. Blockson is a 1956 graduate of the Pennsylvania State University and has three honorary doctorate degrees from Lincoln University, Holy Family University, and Villanova University. He retired from Temple in 2006 and continues to serve as Curator Emeritus of the university’s Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection.

In addition to overseeing Juvenile Law Center's litigation and appellate work, she spearheaded the litigation arising out of the Luzerne County "kids fo cash" scandal winning the expungement and vacatur of thousands of these children's cases before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. She has authored numerous briefs in state and federal appeals courts throughout the county, including many before the United States Supreme Court, including Roper v. Simmons, eliminating the death penalty for youth; Graham v. Florida, eliminating life without parole sentences for juveniles convicted of non-homicide offenses; J.D.B. v. North Carolina, ensuring appropriate Miranda protections for youth in custody; and Miller v. Alabama, eliminating mandatory sentences of life without parole for youth convicted of homicide. While the impact of Marsha Levick's recent work before the Supreme Court will ripple across the nation, the impact will be felt most profoundly in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia as the region incarcerates the highest number of youth sentenced to life without parole in the nation. Marsha Levick's commitment, leadership and passion for protecting the rights and welfare of the children of Philadelphia - and the nation - exemplifies the vision and purpose of the Philadelphia Award. Most recently, Ms. Levick also served as co-counsel in Montgomery v. Louisiana, where the Supreme Court ruled Miller to be retroactive.

Beyond this imprint on Philadelphia with his musical genius, Mr. Gamble was moved to address the problems of this city's urban communities. His Universal Companies, one of the largest African-American real estate developers, has been a conduit for over $1.5 billion of real estate development and investment in extremely distressed neighborhoods. Cognizant that education is essential to effectuate neighborhood transformation, his Universal Companies now educates over 5,500 students in 11 schools, primarily in South Philadelphia. Mr. Gamble was awarded the Philadelphia Award on May 6, 2015.

Mrs. Roberts shares her passion for helping other and is a champion for empowering women, advocating for children in poverty and supporting the arts. She has been the director, producer and host of Emmy award winning television show "Seeking Solutions with Suzanne", and has provided sustaining support for the Philadelphia Theater Company. Through her Suzanne Roberts Cultural Development Fund, she has encouraged theater and dance groups to share their creativity with schoolchildren. The Roberts Proton Therapy Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania represents another of the Roberts family commitments to Philadelphia's renown as a city of innovation and cutting edge technology for the benefit of all. Together, Ralph and Suzanne Roberts have demonstrated their commitment to the transformation of Philadelphia through their lifetime of service. The Philadelphia Award was presented to Mr. and Mrs. Roberts on May 6, 2015.

The Middletons are engaged philanthropists focused on education and workforce development, ending homelessness, and medical research. Their philanthropy ranges from supporting youth in North Philadelphia to backing research on neurological disorders. The Middleton's bold vision and leadership helped create an unprecidented public private partnership which has given hope and opportunity to thousands of people and families experiencing homelessness. Their recent innovative gift to Project HOME served as the stimulus to generate further funding and support for what would become several multi-million dollar projects in North Philadelphia. As champions in the area of education, the Middleton's investments support professional development, workforce and career training for inner city youth. They also focus on programs and resources directed toward the city's highest need schools Their interest in building a healthier society has led them to underwrite comprehensive research in addictive disorders, depressive disorders, and neurological disease, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The goal of this interdisciplinary effort is to develop new science and to translate existing science into improved clinical care for patients. In creating the Philadelphia Award in 1921, Edward Bok said "the idea of service as a test of good citizenship should be kept constantly before the minds of the people of Philadelphia". Leigh and John Middleton's actions embody the spirit of the Philadelphia Award as their generosity is helping to transform Philadelphia. Decades from now, our region will look back at their vision, leadership, and investment in our community with deep gratitude and respect.

His team’s cancer gene therapy research has triggered vast professional interest and global media coverage in well over a thousand news outlets since its first round of groundbreaking results were published in August 2011 in the New England Journal of Medicine and Science Translational Medicine. Those papers detailed the world’s first successful and sustained demonstration of the use of gene transfer therapy to create designer T cells aimed at battling cancerous tumors. Of the first three desperately ill chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients treated with the new approach, two went into complete remissions following their treatment; a third patient achieved a partial remission. Most recently, his team has presented more stunning results of the ongoing trial for patients with advanced blood cancers: of 12 patients treated with the protocol as of December 2012, nine – including two children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia – had responded, and still today, two of the first three adult patients in the trial remain healthy and in remission, more than two and a half years after their treatment. The new cells’ persistence has held up, too – tests show the modified T cells are still circulating in their bodies, primed to attack new cancer cells if they reappear. The new treatment approach far exceeded the expectations of the Penn investigators and of other top cancer experts, who had been buffeted by years of false starts and disappointments in the field of cancer gene therapy. Dr. June’s academic achievements include more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, election to the Institute of Medicine -- one of the nation's highest honors in biomedicine -- and the 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America. Dr. June is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and Baylor College of Medicine. He completed graduate training in immunology and malaria at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, and post-doctoral training in transplantation biology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He has received numerous awards and grants for his innovative work, including a Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Freedom to Discover Research Grant, the William B. Coley Award from the Cancer Research Institute, the Ernest Beutler Prize from the American Society of Hematology, and the Joan Miller and Linda Bernstein Gene Therapy Ovarian Cancer Award from the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy. Recognized by his peers and leaders around the world, Dr. June’s cancer gene therapy research will forever impact the medical field and Philadelphians alike. Dr. June’s commitment and service to this work truly embodies the spirit of the Philadelphia Award.

The Barnes Foundation was created in 1922 by Albert Barnes (1872-1951), making his magnificent art collection (rich in work by Matisse, Renoir, Cezanne, Picasso and other masters) available for public viewing and education. He hired the neoclassical architect Paul Philippe Cret (1930 Award) to design the elegant building, which showcased the collection on Barnes’s Main Line estate. An eccentric art enthusiast and chemist who made his fortune by developing the anti-gonorrheal drug Argyrol, Barnes had strong views on how his collection should be viewed, which he stipulated in the indenture of trust setting up the foundation. In 2002 the board of the Barnes Foundation decided that, to uphold the foundation’s mission of public accessibility as set out in the trust, they had to challenge the provisions in the indenture requiring the collection to be viewed as it was installed in Merion. Residents had long complained of tour buses in the affluent neighborhood, and the membership and number of visitors to the financially struggling foundation were a fraction of what it could be in the city. The following year, Neubauer and Roberts were appointed to the board, as part of a campaign to revitalize the Barnes. Neubauer and Roberts stood bravely in the face of virulent opposition from the Friends of the Barnes and other opponents of the proposed move, who contended that the invaluable Barnes experience could only be had by visiting the galleries and arboretum on the 12-acre Lower Merion estate. The issue played itself out in Montgomery County courtrooms, ending on October 5, 2011, when the Friends of the Barnes decided not to appeal the second decision (the first in 2004) of Judge Stanley Ott authorizing the change of venue. Joseph Neubauer was born in Israel after his parents fled Nazi Germany. At the age of fourteen, he immigrated alone to the United States to further his education while living with his aunt and uncle in Danvers, Massachusetts. He learned English by watching John Wayne movies. Neubauer earned a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Chicago. From 1965 until 1979, Neubauer held various executive positions at Chase Manhattan Bank and PepsiCo. Since 1983, Neubauer has been the chief executive officer and board chairman of ARAMARK, a leading provider of facility, uniform, and food services to businesses, sports venues, schools, hospitals, and universities. In 2012 the company had over 250,000 employees in 22 countries. The Neubauer family established the Neubauer Family Foundation, which has funded fellowships in numerous universities and contributed to many cultural institutions, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and WHYY. As vice chair of the board and head of the development committee of the Barnes Foundation, Neubauer employed his characteristic ebullience to persuade potential donor -- individuals, corporations, and foundations -- of the wisdom behind the proposed move. While readily conceding that the “fantastic collection” would attract some visitors even “if we put it in a Quonset hut,” Neubauer argued that the planned creation of a much more accessible space adhered to Barnes’s original vision. Barnes had been alienated from the stodgy art establishment of early 20th Century Philadelphia, whose conservative tastes did not embrace the work of the impressionists and early modernists. In the spirit of Barnes, the new museum would include ample space for the work of contemporary artists. Barnes had established his foundation to educate “the working classes,” rather than cater to Philadelphia’s social elite. The new museum would have extensive educational programming, which together with its central location, would bring art and art appreciation to an immensely larger number of people. The museum would be a boost to Philadelphia as a tourist location, establishing an art corridor on the Parkway of the Barnes, the Rodin Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Aileen Roberts, a philanthropist and civic leader, studied architecture and design at North Carolina State University and the University of Pennsylvania. Roberts is the president of the Aileen and Brian Roberts Foundation, and is a leading board member of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She has served on the boards of the Franklin Institute, the Avenue of the Arts, and the International House. Her husband is Brian Roberts, chairman and chief executive officer of Comcast Cablevision, a Fortune 100 company. Roberts has been a planner and volunteer for Project H.O.M.E., an activist group that provides services and lobbies on behalf of the homeless. Roberts and her husband, together with Lynne and Harold Honickman, were honored for funding the group’s $13.5 million learning center in North Philadelphia, providing computer labs and other services to help homeless people turn their lives around. As chair of the board’s building committee, Roberts oversaw the selection of the architects and architectural plan. In an interview in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Roberts reflected that the project was “enormously complicated,” because of “site constraints, budgetary demands, and the mandate to replicate the Barnes galleries.” Architects and academics were widely consulted by Roberts and her colleagues. To find the right architect and design, Roberts inspected (by her own count) 25 to 30 museums in America and Europe “to see what was the newest, latest, and greatest that we could do.” In 2007 the exhaustive search ended with the selection of architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. Completed in early 2012, the museum is a two-story, 93,000-square foot building, with a 12,000-square foot space housing the original Barnes collection, closely replicating the unique, densely hung galleries of the museum in Lower Merion, as stipulated in the trust. The building features a 5,000-square foot Special Exhibitions Gallery, classrooms, auditorium, conservation lab, research department, gift shop, and outdoor café. Roberts described the design features which reflected, and even enhanced, the closeness to nature of the Barnes experience in Lower Merion: “Set in generous gardens with walkways and water features, this dignified building has a unique glass canopy that will filter natural light into the galleries during the day and by night will be a softly glowing beacon.” Moreover, the Barnes estate in Lower Merion would remain open to the public, featuring the foundation’s famed gardens and horticultural program. An admirer of the sculptor Ellsworth Kelly, Neubauer commissioned the construction of Kelly’s sculpture, The Barnes Totem. The 40-foot stainless-steel totem, outstretched toward the sky, is stationed near the entrance of the museum, facing a pool lined with ten red maples. Neubauer declared that the sculpture was a welcome sign to the visitors and passersby of the museum.

Bast grew up in a middle class family in Wayside, New Jersey. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Bast started a career in business development and marketing for medical companies, married, and gave birth to her first child in 1988. Then, her health began to fail. For years, Bast suffered from numerous, painful symptoms. She experienced hair loss, tooth decay, extreme fatigue, chronic migraines, canker sores, diarrhea, bloating, gastrointestinal pain, and tingling sensations in her fingers and toes. After one stillborn child and three midterm miscarriages, the 5-foot 9-inch Bast weighed just 105 pounds and kept getting sicker. Her second daughter was born seven weeks premature and weighed two pounds. In the decade since her symptoms had begun, Bast visited 22 doctors, none of whom correctly diagnosed her. Finally, a veterinarian suspected that Bast’s symptoms were food-related. A simple blood test confirmed the diagnosis of celiac disease. An estimated 3 million Americans of all races, ages, and genders suffer from celiac disease and a staggering 95% of celiacs (people with celiac disease) are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. A pharmaceutical cure for the disease has not been found and the only treatment is a lifelong gluten-free diet. In 2003, Bast founded the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) with a dual mission: to increase awareness of celiac disease in order to make early diagnosis standard, and to raise funds to support medical research and education. While the NFCA is not the only organization to support celiacs, Bast’s initiatives are the first to actively work to diagnose them. Since the establishment of the NFCA, the rate of diagnosis has dropped significantly from eleven to six years. To increase early diagnosis, Bast joined forces with area hospitals to create celiac centers which treat patients throughout the region. With a grant from the National Institutes of Health in 2004, Bast organized an international medical advisory board to help physicians diagnose celiac disease more quickly. She produced free online resources about celiac disease, through which primary-care physicians can earn continuing medical-education credits by studying. Bast and the NFCA then challenged the food industry not only to produce more gluten-free food, but also to make it less expensive and more widely available. In 2006, she consulted with Anheuser-Bush in launching their first gluten-free beer and worked with Whole Foods, Wegmans and Walmart to develop their gluten-free lines. The NFCA also introduced a program which trains chefs and restaurants to prepare gluten-free food. Bast declared Philadelphia to be the first Gluten-Free Neighborhood in America, because of her organization’s success in educating the area’s doctors and food industry; all major Philadelphia sports teams offer gluten-free concessions at every game. Bast was chosen as the recipient of the 2010 Award for her “tireless passion for health and education [that] has shined light upon a disease that went undiagnosed for decades.” The award recognized “her drive to bring relief and treatment to those dealing with celiac disease in Philadelphia and throughout the world—no matter their financial background.”