Press Releases

Cannery Row Company Chairman to Receive Prestigious Recognition

MONTEREY, Calif. — Since 1986, The National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations, Inc. (NECO) has distributed some 1300 Ellis Island Medal of Honor awards to recipients such as George Bush, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, John McCain, Mario Cuomo, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Michael Douglas, Gloria Estafan, Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali, Mickey Mantle, General Norman Schwarzkopf, Barbara Walters, Susan Lucci and Janet Reno, to name a few. At this year's annual awards gala, well-known restaurateur and entrepreneur, Ted Balestreri will be among the national leaders from the business, political, medical, arts, labor, and education worlds to be honored.

Designed to pay homage to the immigrant experience, as well as individual achievement, The Ellis Island Medals of Honor are awarded to U.S. citizens from various ethnic backgrounds. The honorees are remarkable Americans who exemplify outstanding qualities in both their personal and professional lives, while continuing to preserve the richness of their particular heritage. This year's honorees will receive their awards at a ceremony in the Great Hall on Ellis Island in New York Harbor on Saturday, May 12, 2001.

Ted Balestreri is a visionary, deeply involved in the evolution and development of the famed Cannery Row in Monterey, California. Mr. Balestreri is the managing general partner of the Cannery Row Company, through which he and his partners have successfully worked for over 25 years to revitalize Cannery Row. Mr. Balestreri is general managing partner of the Foursome Development Company, the parent company. Their majority ownership of commercial properties on and around Cannery Row, including shopping centers, hotels, motels, offices, retail stores and food and beverage outlets, has significantly contributed to the transformation of the area into the bustling attraction it is today, one of America's true icons. Mr. Balestreri's success is in part due to his long-standing commitment to the community, and his successful, long-term working relationships built on trust and friendship. Mr. Balestreri has achieved enormous success as a restaurateur, a businessman, and a political and community leader.

NECO is the largest organization of its kind in the U.S., serving as an umbrella group for over 350 ethnic organizations representing five million family members and whose mandate is to preserve ethnic diversity, promote ethnic and religious equality, tolerance and harmony, and combat injustice, hatred and bigotry. Ellis Island Medal of Honor recipients are selected each year through a national nomination process. Screening committees from NECO's member organizations select the final nominees, who are then considered by the Board of Directors.