EHS ceremony to honor two with awards


October 5, 2011 at 6:58a.m.

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Ethnic Heritage Society will honor Louis Zona, executive director of the Butler Institute of American Art, and the Rev. Joseph Rudjak, president of the society, at a ceremony Thursday.

Zona will receive the Leadership Award, and the Rev. Mr. Rudjak will get the Visionary Award.

The ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. at Cardinal Mindszenty Social Hall, 545 N. Belle Vista Ave. Master of ceremonies will be George Beelen, president of the Ohio Cultural Alliance. Richard S. Scarsella, president of the William H. McGuffey Historical Society, will chair the event.

Admission to the ceremony will be $10 at the door. A light dinner and refreshments will be served. Call Thomas Welsh at 330-792-7936 for more information.

Zona has been executive director of the Butler since 1981 and recently celebrated his 30th anniversary at the museum. He spearheaded the 1986-87 west wing addition, and further expanded the museum in later years with the completion of the Beecher Center and the Andrews Pavilion. He also established branches in Howland and Salem.

Zona is also credited with vastly diversifying the museum’s collection and raising its profile on a national level. His appreciation of the local ethnic community can be seen in his support for the Polish Arts Club of Youngstown, whose relationship to the museum goes back to 1936.

The Rev. Mr. Rudjak has been an advocate of ethnic communities for more than a decade. As pastor of the merged parishes of Sts. Peter and Paul (Croatian) and Our Lady of Hungary-St. Stephen of Hungary, he has taken steps to preserve the histories and identities of both cultures.

He has strengthened ties between the Polish and Polish-American communities through his frequent trips to Poland with the Kosciuszko Foundation.

In 2007, in cooperation with the Ohio Cultural Alliance, he founded the Ethnic Heritage Society, which supports local ethnic communities. The EHS recently established a collection of ethnic artifacts at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society.