She has seen New York City in good times and bad times, but she has also seen it always reassert itself with pride, assurance, and confidence, just as she has done throughout her life. She is the first lady of our city, not only in terms of taste, elegance, style, and grace, but also in the realm of philanthropy. She has bridged the gap between the elite and the general populace; between the familiar and the esoteric; between hope and practicality. Today, almost every important institution and organization in our city, from the great to the small, bears her mark. For more than forty years, the philanthropy of the Astor Foundation, as well as her personal giving and generosity, has enriched New York City and the nation as well.

She has given more than $200 million to institutions ranging from the New York Public Library to the New York Zoological Society, the New York Botanical Garden, the Pierpont Morgan Library, the South Street Seaport, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall and countless others, and she has given with grace and an openness of heart that has set the standard for both obligation and philanthropic largesse. Like Andrew Carnegie, she has always believed that much is expected from those to whom much has been given.

If Andrew Carnegie were with us today, he would thank Ms. Astor personally for her unswerving commitment to the public good, for spreading hope and good will throughout our city, for rewarding excellence, and for responding with great charity when she saw great need. And, as her centennial approaches, Mr. Carnegie would also want to congratulate her, sincerely and with deep appreciation, for the inspiration that her philanthropy has brought to countless numbers of her fellow citizens.

Several years ago Mr. Annenberg exhibited his extraordinary faith in education and a belief shared by Andrew Carnegie, “that education is a ladder that can lift up anyone to the greatest heights.” By creating the Annenberg Challenge Grant, the largest single gift ever made to American public education, the $500 million program of challenge grants, which generated over a billion dollars in matching funds, was designed to energize, support and replicate successful K-12 school reform programs throughout the country and celebrated our national conviction that a democratic society has an obligation to educate all students well, especially in light of the economic realities of the new century. Like no other individual act by an American citizen, the Annenberg Challenge Grant program announced, with pride and conviction, that education was the number one priority of our country and signaled our abiding faith in a future of hope and promise for all Americans.

During her husband’s tenure as United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Mrs. Annenberg brought her distinctive taste, style and elegance to the royal court and, later, in Washington, D.C., served her country with the same grace and diplomacy in the capacity of Chief of Protocol, with the rank of Ambassador. She has been nationally celebrated as a great champion of the arts and recognized internationally with awards from the governments of Italy and the Netherlands. In Great Britain she created the American Friends of Covent Garden and back at home worked tirelessly on behalf of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House. Always kind, she wove together the themes of art and education, culture and public service, creating a tapestry of honor, service and vision that puts our nation and many others around the world deeply in her debt.