from the city of Berlin to become president and chief executive of the Berlin Jewish Museum. The first Jewish Museum in Berlin was founded in 1933, but was closed in 1938 by the Nazi regime. The re-imagined museum includes displays documenting 2,000 years of the often-tragic chapters in German-Jewish history, including The Holocaust, and is the largest Jewish museum in Europe. Blumenthal remained the museum's director from 1997 until 2014, with the completion and opening of the Museum in 2001 being credited to his direction. The project has attracted considerable attention within and outside of Germany. In 1999 and 2006, Blumenthal was awarded Germany's Senior Medals of Merit for his services to the Federal Republic of Germany, in recognition of his work in Berlin. Personal life He married Margaret Eileen Polley, a teacher, while in college; they had three daughters: Ann, Jill, and Jane. Currently he resides in Princeton, New Jersey, with his wife Barbara (née Bennet), with whom he has one son, Michael. In 2008, he was elected as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, and pledged to back President Barack Obama. Blumenthal is featured in the 2020 documentary Harbor from the Holocaust. Awards and honors Recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence. In 1980, Blumenthal received the Horatio Alger Award from the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. In 1999, he received the Leo Baeck Medal for his humanitarian work promoting tolerance and social justice, as well as the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. He was elected an honorary citizen of Berlin in 2015, as well as of Oranienburg, the city of his birth. Blumenthal holds numerous honorary degrees from major U.S. universities. He was the recipient of Princeton University's Madison Medal for Outstanding Public Service in 1979. See also List of foreign-born United States Cabinet members References External links |- 1926 births 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American economists 21st-century American economists 20th-century American writers 21st-century American writers American chief executives of manufacturing companies Burroughs Corporation people Carter administration cabinet members Haas School of Business alumni Jewish American members of the Cabinet of the United States Jewish Chinese history Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States Jews and Judaism in Shanghai Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin Living people People from