May 28, 2009

Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit Presented to Hungarian American Businessman and Philanthropist George Kellner

Ambassador Ferenc Somogyi presented George A. Kellner with the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary on May 28, 2009. At the initiative of the Embassy of Hungary, the President of the Republic of Hungary László Sólyom awarded the honor to Mr. Kellner in recognition of his support enabling Hungarian students to study in the United States, providing assistance to Hungarian higher education, including to the subsistence of the American Studies discipline in Hungary.
 

At the award ceremony, Ambassador Somogyi greeted attendees and praised the work of the awardee as the founder of the Kellner Foundation. Zoltán Fehér, the Embassy's Press Attaché and a former Kellner Scholar, read the laudation before Ambassador Somogyi presented Mr. Kellner with the Officer's Cross. The award ceremony was attended by the Kellner Family, including Paul J. Kellner, recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit in 2003, former and current Kellner Scholars, Tamás Magyarics, Professor of American Studies at Eötvös Loránd University as well as the representative of Trinity College.
 

George Kellner established the Kellner Foundation in the 1990s with his father, Paul Kellner. Since then, the Foundation has made it possible for over 100 Hungarian students to study at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, or at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, for an academic year. The foundation has also sponsored the studies of American students with modest financial backgrounds as well as supported the Department of American Studies at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.
 

George Kellner is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kellner DiLeo & Co., LLC. Mr. Kellner has been in the arbitrage business for 25 years and founded KDC Merger Arbitrage Fund, LP in 1981. Prior to Kellner, DiLeo & Co., Mr. Kellner was a Senior Vice President and founded the arbitrage department of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Before commencing his arbitrage career, Mr. Kellner was a Vice President and House Counsel of the Madison Fund where he had broad responsibilities as a financial analyst and portfolio manager. Mr. Kellner began his professional career as a securities lawyer at the Wall Street law firm of Carter, Ledyard and Milburn and holds a B.A. (Trinity College), a J.D. (Columbia Law School) and an M.B.A. (New York University's Leonard Stern Graduate School of Business). He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a former Adjunct Assistant Professor of Finance at the New York University.