昨天去了Ellis Island的移民博物馆活动,见到了Bruce Springsteen, Lee Iacocca, Peter Peterson 等值的崇拜的人.但他们照样排队,等候,而且等候到大家走了才散.要在中国,一个屁一样的官都希望别人让路了.我当时就坐在Lee Iacocca边上.

                                    http://s15/bmiddle/642f13c7g84e7cea0f39e&690Bruce Springsteen speaks at the award ceremony on April 22 at Ellis Island Immigration Museum.

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Brian Williams of NBC, Lee Iacocca, Bruce Springsteen and Fishery Department Official.
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Left to right: Brian Williams of NBC, Lee Iacocca, Mr.Forbes, Andrea Jung and Thomas Strickland, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks of Department of Interior

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Left to right: Peter G. Peterson, cofounder of Blockstone, Andrea Jung of Avon, Bruce Springsteen and NBA Legend Dikembe Mutombo at the award ceremony on April 22.

Story and photos by Chen Weihua

NEW YORK: Avon Products Chairman and CEO Andrea Jung, whose company has been inflicted by the recent suspension of four executives pending an internal investigation of bribery allegations in China, finds great joy yesterday (April 22).

Jung was honored Thursday noon alongside music superstar Bruce Springsteen, Blackstone Group co-founder Peter Peterson and famed NBA All-Star player Dikembe Mutombo with the 2010 Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards in the Great Hall at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.

It makes Jung the second Chinese American to receive the awards since it was launched in 2001. Chinese American architect I.M. Pei was a recipient in 2004.

The daughter of Chinese immigrants from Shanghai and Hong Kong, Jung came to the United States from Toronto, Canada, as a child and is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University.

While feeling grateful to the education and career opportunities she experienced in the US, Jung said she and her family are very proud of their Chinese heritage.

“I remember when I was young, our neighbor was Italian and we ran across the street every Friday to have spaghetti and meat ball and I said we want to become Italian. But they said Marco Polo brought spaghetti from China,” said Jung, 51, the first woman CEO of Avon and currently the longest-serving woman CEO of the Fortune 500 companies

“After I visited a paper pulp factory in my fourth grade, I went home and said the paper made in America was great. My father would say. ‘Paper was invented in China,’” said Jung, who is also on the board of General Electric and Apple.

Jung’s mother, Lena, who left Shanghai in 1940 as a teenager to attend a Christian missionary boarding school in Canada, attended the award ceremony yesterday.

Just 10 days ago, news broke out that four Avon executives, including three in China and one in New York, were suspended for bribery allegations in China.

The executives are: S.K. Kao, general manager of Avon China; Jimmy Beh, a former head of finance for Avon China who was most recently in a sales development role in Malaysia; C.Q. Sun, head of corporate affairs for Avon China and Ian Rossetter, who was most recently vice president of finance and tax. Previously, Rossetter had been responsible for global internal audit and vice president for finance of Asia Pacific, according to a Reuters report.

Jung, in Avon’s signature pink yesterday, declined to answer any questions related to the company, but she joked at the ceremony that she has become a very cool mom to be with Bruce Springsteen and the other honorees.

She thanked Lee Iacocca, who presented the award yesterday as founding chairman of The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation, for his role model for every business man and woman and his civic leadership.

Pop star Bruce Springsteen attracted the most attention at the ceremony. Springsteen’s maternal great-grandmother, Raffaela Zerilli, arrived at Ellis Island from Vico Equnse, Italy, on October 3, 1900.

"You can't really know who you are and where you're going unless you know where you came from," Springsteen said.

The pop icon received numerous awards including 20 Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards and most recently, the Kennedy Center Honor.

The singer and songwriter has sold more than 120 million albums worldwide. At age 60, he continues to prove his staying power by releasing more music and performing in sold-out concerts across the world.

Peter Peterson, whose mother arrived at Ellis Island from Greece in 1920, talked about the hard job his father did in a steamy train kitchen.

Now 83, Peterson is a legendary businessman and philanthropist. He served as the US Secretary of Commerce in the Nixon administration and became the chairman and CEO of the now-defunct Lehman Brothers in 1973. In 1985, he co-founded the Blackstone Group, a private equity firm, which is now very active in China.

NBA Legend Dikembe Mutombo, 43, came to the US from the Democratic Republic of the Congo after receiving a scholarship to Georgetown University.

A teammate of Yao Ming’s at Houston Rockets in previous years, Mutombo was one of the best defensive players in NBA’s history. His Dikembe Mutombo Foundation has also did great philanthropic work in Africa, winning him President’s Service Award (2000) from President Bill Clinton and many other recognitions.

http://s4/middle/642f13c7g73b1258cb633&690Lee Iacocca and Peter Peterson on the Miss Freedom boat from Manhattan to Ellis Island for the 2010 Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards ceremony at the Great Hall of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. The two were among the last to disembark on the boat, after witnessing everyone else passing by them...

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http://s5/bmiddle/642f13c7g73b125cfef24&690              Bruce Springsteen in the spotlight at the ceremony.
              
http://s9/bmiddle/642f13c7g73b125e9bda8&690              Bruce Springsteen meet the future of Peter Peterson....
            
http://s4/bmiddle/642f13c7g73b12606d913&690               Andrea Jung's mom, Lena, at the ceremony.