Tribute to Bildner Brings Scholars, Music to GC

The Graduate Center celebrated the 90th birthday of Foundation Board Member and benefactor Albert Bildner June 2 with a program of talks and musical performance entitled "Democracy and Social Development in Brazil and Latin America."

The program began with words of appreciation from Vice President for Institutional Advancement Steven M. Gorelick, former Graduate Center President Frances Degen Horowitz, and Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies Director Mauricio Font.

"It is impossible to overstate the extent to which Albert Bildner has--for much of his life, through his work in Latin America and his support of advanced scholarship--been in the vanguard of those Americans who have insisted that we seriously engage with and understand the needs and struggles and national interests of Latin American societies," said Gorelick.

"It was his vision that led to the establishment of the Bildner Center--the sponsor of this afternoon's event and the sponsor of so many programs that have made us 'the address' for programs and conversations about Latin America in this city," added Horowitz, noting that "more than his vision, Albert is ever stimulating us to think about matters and issues differently than we otherwise would have--asking penetrating questions, including us in his many interests, never shy in offering a critique we need to hear."

Director Font then interviewed Bildner, who reminisced about his days moving in the same circles as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Leon Trotsky while in Mexico.

After a musical interlude--Chopin's Fantasie in F Minor, opus 49, performed on piano by Graduate Center Music Professor Ray Erickson--a panel discussion followed. Brown University Distinguished Professor Thomas E. Skidmore began with a somewhat humorous look at rapidly changing Brazil. Janice Perlman, President of the Mega-Cities Project and a visiting scholar at the World Bank, followed with a consideration of urban social development in Brazil, and Baruch College President Kathleen Waldron, another Latin American expert, concluded the panel with a discussion entitled "Fighting Poverty: The Promise of Microfinance & Microlending."

Doctoral music program student Ellie Kang concluded with a violin performance of Gypsy Aires by the Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate.

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Albert Bildner (left) speaks with Bildner Center Director Mauricio Font (right).

Panelists at June 2 symposium in honor of Bildner; Photos: A. Poyo