Blanka Rosenstiel | |
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 Portrait of Blanka Rosenstiel | |
| Born | Blanka Wdowiak 1931 |
| Organization(s) | American Institute of Polish Culture (AIPC); Chopin Foundation of the United States |
| Spouse | Lewis S. Rosenstiel |
Blanka Aldona Rosenstiel (born 1931) is a Polish American philanthropist. She currently serves as the president, chairwoman, and chief executive of The American Institute of Polish Culture (AIPC) and president of the Chopin Foundation of the United States.
Blanka Aldona Rosenstiel (née Wdowiak) was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1931 to Wacław Wdowiak, a postal worker, and Irena Wdowiak (née Karaszewka). [1] She was born into a Catholic family. [2] In 1944 during the Warsaw Uprising, her father was taken to Auschwitz concentration camp, and Rosenstiel, her mother, and one of her two brothers became slave laborers at the Frankfurt railroad station, laying bricks. [1] Other members of her family were also taken to other labor and concentration camps. Rosenstiel, her mother, and her brother were liberated from Niederhausen concentration camp in 1945 by the Allied Powers. [1] [2] However, her father died in Magdeburg labor camp in Germany. [3]
Rosenstiel has stated about the experience, “Those were difficult years, but somehow and against all odds, a few of us survived. Although my mother deplored the years we lost without schooling, she instilled in us optimism and positive thinking. She convinced us that the future would be better, brighter and successful". [3]
Rosenstiel and her family did not return to Poland following their liberation, as Poland was now under Soviet control. [3] Her family lived in Trier for a time, before moving to Luxembourg, where she did radio work. The family then moved to Brussels, Belgium, where Rosenstiel was a cabaret singer and studied art. [1] In 1956, she moved to the United States. [4]
In 1972, Rosenstiel founded The American Institute of Polish Culture (AIPC). She was inspired by her interest in the arts, dedication to helping young artists succeed, and her desire to promote both Polish history and heritage and Polish-American culture. [2] She currently serves as the President, chairman, and Chief Executive. [5] In 1975, in collaboration with the University of Miami's School of Music, she presented the First National Chopin Piano Competition of the United States in Miami. The success of this competition inspired Rosenstiel to establish the Chopin Foundation of the United States in 1977. [6] She currently serves the president of the foundation. [7]
Following the death of her husband, Lewis S. Rosenstie l, in 1976, she gained control of the Rosenstiel Foundation, which funds her charitable work. She has donated millions to Brandeis University, Mount Sinai Medical Center, the Crippled Children's Society (now known as AbilityFirst), the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Washington National Opera. [1]
Alongside AIPC, Rosenstiel helped establish the permanent Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies at the University of Virginia in 1998. [2] The ownership of this chair was given back to AIPC after a period of inactivity, and then given to the Institute of World Politics to carry out the mission. [8] Each year the Institute awards scholarships in the field of journalism, communication, or public relations to talented students of Polish origin.
She currently serves as Honorary Consul for the Polish government in Miami, Florida, an honor which was awarded in 1998. She was the first Polish Consul in the history of Florida. [9]
In 2013, Rosenstiel stated her plan to invest up to PLN200m in Polish companies by 2014. [10] By September 2013, her investment vehicle Polish American Investment Fund (PAIF) had already spent over PLN7m on stakes in six firms in the Warsaw Stock Exchange's main market and the NewConnect platform, including the IdeaTFI fund. [10] [11] In December 2013, she was appointed to the supervisory board of Dom Maklerski IDMSA, a consulting firm. [12] By February 2014, the PAIF also invested in Global Energy, Mostostal Export, and United, and about 10% of the promised PLN200m was spent. [11]
In 1963, she met her future husband Lewis S. Rosenstiel, the founder and chair of Schenley Industries and philanthropist, when she was 32 and he was 72. She states that they were both in love with one another. "He was a brilliant and fascinating man—not what some people are saying now," she says. "He was a businessman and very generous. He gave away $100 million to charities in his lifetime." [1] They were married from 1967 until his death on January 21, 1976. [13]
She currently resides in Miami Beach, Florida during the winter and in Charlottesville, Virginia during the summer. [4] In Charlottesville, she lives on a 1790 Colonial mansion on her 1,400-acre Blandemar Farm and raises horses. [1] She was awarded Doctor honoris causa (Dr.h.c.) from the International Fine Arts College in Miami in 1976 and Dr. humane letters from Alliance College in Cambridge Spring, Pennsylvania in 1978. [14] She can speak Polish, English, French, German, and Spanish, and her hobbies include sculpting, painting, and swimming. [14]
The University of Miami is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. As of 2022, the university enrolled 19,402 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, including the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine in Miami's Health District, the law school on the main campus, the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science on Virginia Key, and additional research facilities in southern Miami-Dade County.
A Song to Remember is a 1945 American biographical film which tells a fictionalised life story of Polish pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin. Directed by Charles Vidor and starring Paul Muni, Merle Oberon, and Cornel Wilde.
The Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science is the University of Miami's academic and research institution for the study of oceanography and atmospheric sciences.
Konrad Wallenrod is an 1828 narrative poem, in Polish, by Adam Mickiewicz, set in the 14th-century Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Aldona Zofia Wos is a Polish-American former physician and Republican politician who served in various positions at several government agencies under Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump and nonprofit organizations. She was the United States Ambassador to Estonia from 2004 until early December 2006, the fifth since the country regained its independence in 1991. From 2013 until 2015, she was Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. From 2017 to 2021, Wos served as vice-chairwoman of the President's Commission on White House Fellowships, which is tasked with reviewing candidates for White House fellowships.
Ursula von Rydingsvard is a sculptor who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She is best known for creating large-scale works influenced by nature, primarily using cedar and other forms of timber.
Founded by Blanka Rosenstiel in 1977, the Chopin Foundation of the United States provides performance opportunities for young American pianists, exchange and scholarship programs as well as awards.
Leonore Cohn Annenberg, also known as Lee Annenberg, was an American businesswoman, diplomat, and philanthropist. She was noted for serving as Chief of Protocol of the United States from 1981 to 1982. Annenberg was married to Walter Annenberg, who was an Ambassador to the United Kingdom and newspaper publisher. She also served as the chairman and president of the Annenberg Foundation from 2002 until 2009.
The American Council for Polish Culture (ACPC) is a national non-profit, charitable, cultural and educational organization that serves as a network and body of national leadership among affiliated Polish-American cultural organizations throughout the United States.
Cecylia Barczyk is an American cellist based in Baltimore, Maryland.
Barbara Stella Hesse-Bukowska was a Polish pianist. Her family had a long-standing musical history, as her father was a violinist and conductor, her mother was a pianist and teacher, and her grandfather was a piano tuner. Her mother was her first teacher. Her subsequent teachers included Czesław Aniołkiewicz and, at the Warsaw Conservatory, Maria Glińska-Wąsowska.
Lynne Talley is a physical oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography known for her research into the large-scale circulation of water masses in the global ocean.
Schenley Industries was a liquor company based in New York City with headquarters in the Empire State Building and a distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. It owned several brands of Bourbon whiskey, including Schenley, The Old Quaker Company, Cream of Kentucky, Golden Wedding Rye, I.W. Harper, and James E. Pepper. Schenley Industries was also the owner of the producer of Cruzan Rum. It also owned a controlling interest in Blatz beer and made a Canadian whisky called Schenley Reserve, also called Schenley Black Label. It was the only liquor available to submarine officers at Midway in World War II, where it was held in low regard and known as "Schenley's Black Death". It also imported Dewar's White Label Scotch.
Sean Eric Kennard is an American classical pianist.
Anitra Thorhaug is an American marine biologist, plant ecophysiologist and a chemical oceanographer whose extensive work on the rehabilitation of coastal ecosystems has had a substantial influence on national and international policies on conservation around the world. She is President of the Greater Caribbean Energy and Environment Foundation, and President of the Institute for Seagrasses. She has had a series of professorships at leading Universities and presently works at The Institute of Sustainable Forestry Ecophysiological Laboratories at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. She is a member of the International Club of Rome and has twice been President of the US Association of the Club of Rome.
Amicus Poloniae is a distinction, established in 1996 by the Polish ambassador to the United States and conferred annually to the citizens of the United States for merits in the field of Polish-American relations, especially in the popularization of achievements of Polish culture, sciences and the promotion of Poland in the United States.
Lewis Solon Rosenstiel was the founder of Schenley Industries, an American liquor company, and a philanthropist. The Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award is named after him and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami is named after him and his wife.
Rana Arnold Fine is Professor Emeritus at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Her research primarily addresses understanding ocean circulation processes over time through the use of chemical tracers and the connection to climate.
Lucy Scarbrough was an American pianist, conductor and educator. She taught at El Paso Community College (EPCC), and founded the El Paso Chopin Piano Festival in El Paso, Texas.
Sławomir Pawel Dobrzański is a Polish-American pianist, teacher and musicologist.
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