Resident receives ethics honor

Actor, director and producer Penny Marshall; Seeds of Peace President Aaron David Miller; U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao; NASA Scientist Dr. Firouz Michael Naderi; Football Legend and broadcaster Nick Buoniconti; and Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Chairman of the American Red Cross will be among this year’s recipients of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the National Ethic Coalition of Organizations (NECO).

Established in 1986 by NECO, the Ellis Island Medals of Honor pay tribute to the ancestry groups that comprise America’s unique cultural mosaic.

This year’s recipients also include Calabasas resident Rickey M. Gelb, founder and president of Gelb Enterprises/RMG Management in Encino.

"I’m delighted and honored to be recognized with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and to be in the same company as such other prestigious and distinguished recipients," said Gelb, who also is a member of the Agoura/Oak Park/Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce.

NECO’s mandate is to preserve ethnic diversity; promote ethnic and religious equality, tolerance and harmony; and to combat injustice, hatred, and bigotry.

Ellis Island Medal of Honor recipients are selected each year through a national nomination process. Screening committees from NECO’s member organizations select the final nominees, who are then considered by the organization’s board of directors.

This year’s recipients will receive their awards along with other outstanding Americans on May 14 at the annual ceremony filled with patriotic pageantry at Ellis Island, N.Y. The evening’s events will be capped by a spectacular fireworks display in New York Harbor.