For 75 years, Jewish Community Relations Bureau|AJC has worked to fight anti-Semitism, racism and bigotry, and to build bridges of understanding throughout the Greater Kansas City community. Amidst a troubling increase in hate crimes and anti-Semitic incidents in our country, JCRB|AJC is meeting this challenge by fostering friendships between faith and minority communities, advocating to our elected officials, and working with civic, law enforcement and educational leadership to ensure a strong, secure and inclusive Kansas City.
JCRB|AJC’s mission mirrors the values of two men who have led by example, sought justice, and worked to make our community a better place: Herb Kohn, and Henry W. Bloch, of blessed memory.
JCRB|AJC will present Kohn with the prestigious Henry W. Bloch Human Relations Award at a gala 75th anniversary celebration on Sunday, Nov. 24, at the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center.
Serving as 2019 Dinner chairs are community leaders Irv Belzer, Greg Graves, Irv Hockaday and Jan Kreamer. They have planned a gala evening to honor Kohn, as well as to celebrate JCRB|AJC’s enduring legacy. The 75th anniversary theme is “Generations of Justice,” as JCRB|AJC honors the lessons of the past, and recommits to a future of pluralism, inclusion and security for all.
Kohn practices corporate, business and banking law at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, LLP, and is a former member of the firm’s executive committee. He has served as chairman of Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Kay Barnes’ transition team in 1999, the Mayor’s Charter Review Commission in 2000, of Shalom Geriatric and Convalescent Center, of the United Way Professional Group, of the Missouri Gaming Commission, and of the Missouri Cancer Commission.
He served on the executive committee of the board of trustees for the Truman Presidential Museum & Library and is the past chairman of the board of trustees for the Kansas City Art Institute. He is a lifetime member of the Missouri Boys State executive committee, and also served as its director. In the past, his service also includes being a member of the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City and the finance committee of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and a former director of the Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Foundation. He currently serves as chairman of the Blue Ribbon Task Force studying Kansas City pension plans. He was twice voted “Best Rainmaker in the City” for his successes at bringing business to our area.
Kohn is also a passionate and very accomplished photographer, whose works can be seen in his law firm’s offices and have been displayed at such locations as Truman Medical Center, MOBank, the Truman Library and Union Station. His dedication to the arts was spurred by his wife, Nancy, who told him, “You are interested in the arts.” “So I got involved,” Kohn said. His real pride, however, is in his wife, their two children and five grandchildren.
“JCRB|AJC is proud to present Herb Kohn with the Henry W. Bloch Human Relations Award, and to add his name to the list of previous Award honorees, to whom we owe our great respect and appreciation, and who have set an example for our agency’s current and future endeavors,” said JCRB|AJC Executive Director Gavriela Geller.
For information about the dinner, email or call 913-327-8127.