Abraham H. Foxman

STAMFORD – Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and a world-renowned leader in the fight against anti-Semitism, bigotry and discrimination, will deliver a talk titled “Civility in Politics and Public Life: A Current Challenge” on May 20 at 6 p.m. at The Ferguson Library in Stamford.

Foxman’s talk is part of the series “Civility in America,” sponsored by Sacred Heart University and The Dilenschneider Group, along with Hearst Media Group and The Ferguson Library.

Foxman, who has served as head of ADL since 1987, is co-author of Viral Hate: Containing Its Spread on the Internet, and author of Jews & Money: The Story of a Stereotype, The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control and Never Again? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism.

He regularly confers with elected officials and community leaders here and abroad, including those in Europe, Russia, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, China, Japan, South Africa and Argentina, as well as Palestinian leaders. He has had audiences with several Popes, including a recent audience with Pope Francis. A Holocaust survivor, Mr. Foxman was a member of the President’s United States Holocaust Memorial Council, appointed by Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton.

Born in Poland in 1940, Mr. Foxman was saved from the Holocaust by his Polish Catholic nursemaid. His parents survived the war, but 14 members of his family were lost. He arrived in America in 1950 with his parents.

Robert L. Dilenschneider, founder and president of The Dilenschneider Group, who conceived the idea for the series, said, “Incivility has become socially acceptable and commonplace. The lack of civility in every segment of society, from politics to academia, from the media to the blogosphere, from talk radio to the pulpit, has become a crippling epidemic that threatens the future of our country. Something must be done.”

For information about the series, call (203) 964-1000, or register online at http://www.sacredheart.edu/civilityinamerica.