Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel to Speak at Mayo Clinic

Wednesday, October 23, 2002

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel will speak to the Rochester community on Oct. 29 as the guest lecturer for the 2002 Occidental Petroleum Nobel Laureate Lectureship at Mayo Clinic.

Wiesel, a professor at Boston University, will speak at 7 p.m., in Mayo Civic Arena, addressing the topic, "Hope, Healing, Reconciliation and the Renewal of the Human Spirit." The lecture is free and open to the public.

Earlier in the day, Professor Wiesel will speak to area high school sophomores at 1 p.m., at Mayo Civic Arena. Professor Wiesel's lecture is titled "Tomorrow's Leaders." His visit with area high school students is part of Mayo Clinic's participation in the Rochester Area Math Science Partnership.

This is a return visit to Rochester for Professor Wiesel, who was the 1998 lecturer for the Occidental Petroleum Nobel Laureate Lectureship at Mayo Clinic.

The lectureship was established through an endowment from Occidental Petroleum Corporation to Mayo Graduate School. The mission of the lectureship is to provide a rich educational opportunity for Mayo Clinic staff, students, educators and members of the community. In 1997, the Occidental Petroleum Corporation provided an endowment fund to Mayo Foundation to establish an educational program entitled the Occidental Petroleum Nobel Laureate Lectureship at Mayo Clinic. The endowment is an expression of appreciation for the care provided to Occidental employees by Mayo staff and recognizes the long and valued relationship between Mayo Clinic and Occidental Petroleum Corporation. Through the lectureship program, a Nobel Prize recipient in medicine, literature or peace is invited each year to speak to Mayo Clinic and Rochester community audiences.

Professor Wiesel received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 for his work on behalf of oppressed people and his defense of human rights throughout the world. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said at the time of the award that "Elie Wiesel has emerged as one of the most important spiritual leaders and guides in an age when violence, repression and racism continue to characterize the world."

He was born in 1928 in the town of Sighet, now part of Romania. Professor Wiesel first gained acclaim for his 1958 memoir, La Nuit (Night), about his time as an adolescent in the Nazi death camps. The book has been translated into more than 30 languages. He and his family were deported to Auschwitz when he was 15. His mother and younger sister died there, but his two older sisters survived. Professor Wiesel and his father were later taken to Buchenwald, where his father died.

In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed Professor Wiesel as chairman of the President's Commission on the Holocaust. In 1980, he became the founding chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. He is also the founding president of the Paris-based Universal Academy of Cultures.

Teaching has always been central to Professor Wiesel's work. Since 1976, he has been the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, where he also holds the title of University Professor. He is a member of the faculty in the Department of Religion as well as the Department of Philosophy. Previously, he served as Distinguished Professor of Judaic Studies at the City University of New York (1972-76) and the first Henry Luce Visiting Scholar in Humanities and Social Thought at Yale University (1982-83).

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Contact:
John Murphy
507-284-5005 (days)
507-284-2511 (evenings)
e-mail: newsbureau@mayo.edu

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