Gaudium Award 2006
On Monday November 6, 2006, The Breukelein Institute once again conferred its Gaudium Award upon a quartet of remarkable men and women. Held during its annual fund raising dinner at the Yale Club, this year’s honorees included:
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Robert Drinan, S.J.
A Jesuit Catholic priest, Robert Frederick Drinan holds degree in Law and Theology. Fr. Drinan ran for the U. S. House of Representatives and was re-elected four times from the 4th District, MA serving from 1971 to 1981. His recent books include: Can God and Caesar Co-Exist? Balancing Religious Freedom and International Law (2004) and The Mobilization of Shame: A World View of Human Rights (2001). Since 1981, Fr. Drinan has taught law, legal ethics and international human rights at Georgetown University. The recipient of over twenty-two doctorates for hiscommitment to justice and human rights, he was presented with the 2006 Distinquished Service Award on behalf ofthe U. S. House of Representatives.
Donna Murphy
Native New Yorker Donna Murphy made her debut in the Broadway hit, They’re Playing Our Song. Her credits include Edwin Drood in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Hello Again and Wonderful Town (City Center Encores!). For her performance in HBO’s Someone Had To Be Benny, Donna received a Daytime Emmy. She has been a guest star on Law and Order, Ally McBeal, and The Practice. Her films include, Star Trek: The Insurrection, The Astronaut’s Wife, Spider Man-2, and World Trade Center. Ms. Murphy received the Tony Award for Best Actress for the Sondheim musical Passion. She received her second Tony Award for her portrayal of Anna in the acclaimed revival of The King and I. Her third Tony nomination was for the recent revival of Wonderful Town.
Marilynne Robinson
Marilynne Robinson, a native of Idaho, graduated from Brown University. While writing her doctoral dissertation, she began work on her first novel, Housekeeping (1981). The novel received the PEN/Hemingway award for best first novel and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In 1989, Marilynne wrote the controversial book Mother Country, The Welfare State and Nuclear Pollution. She has been a faculty member at the University of Iowa in the Writers’ Workshop since 1991. In 1998, Ms. Robinson published a critically acclaimed collection of essays entitled The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought. Her eagerly awaited second novel, Gilead, received the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
George Shearing
The youngest of nine children and congenitally blind, George Shearing was born in London. He began his career with little formal musical training. His friendship with noted jazz critic Leonard Feather led to his first recordings and his first appearance on BBC Radio. Before long, George was considered Britain’s most popular jazz pianist. Immigrating to America, he scored a major recording hit with his quintet in 1949 with “September in the Rain”. In 1952, Shearing wrote the famous jazz standard, “Lullaby of Birdland”. For the next three decades, the George Shearing Quintet enjoyed consistent popularity. After more than six decades, George continues to record, most recently with Michael Feinstein with the Hopeless Romantics album. His biography Lullaby of Birdland was published in 2004.