Remembering Sally Lilienthal1919 - 2006

Ploughshares Fund

2007-09-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

Sally Lilienthal, founder and president of the Ploughshares Fund, died on October 24, 2006 at age 87 after an extended illness. Although she was a lifelong supporter of human rights, civil rights and the arts, she believed that the threat of nuclear war overshadowed everthing else, and started Ploughshares in 1981."I thought that if a lot of people felt the same way I did but didn't know what to do about it, we might get together and search for new ways to get rid of the nuclear weapons that were threatening us all,'' she told an interviewer in 1996. Sally envisioned the Ploughshares Fund as a way to get money quickly to people with practical ideas for stopping the buildup of nuclear weapons. Ploughshares was structured to respond and adapt to emerging threats to global security, and indeed, has been at the forefront of supporting innovative responses to unforseen challenges. Thanks to Sally's vision and persistence, Ploughshares Fund is now the largest grantmaking foundation in the U.S. focused exclusively on peace and security funding.

2007-01-19T14:39:00.000-08:00

"Sally will always be an inspiration for my work in threat reduction and disarmament. At a critical juncture leading up to the Senate's consideration of the Chemical Weapons Convention, Ploughshares Fund provided grant support that enabled me to pound the Hill on the treaty's behalf, working closely with the U.S. chemical industry and many of America's esteemed military leaders. That ratification battle was truly a tough one, just the sort of situation to draw Sally Lilienthal's attention and to benefit from her touch. As I worked with Ploughshares over the years, I found Sally to be ever willing to confront the obstacles to peace and security head-on and always eager to learn, two of many qualities that I greatly admired in her."

- Amy Smithson, Senior Fellow, International Security Program
Center for Strategic & International Studies
Washington, DC

2007-01-19T14:31:00.000-08:00

"Ploughshares is a generous supporter of CSIS' efforts to find ways of heading off an Iranian nuclear weapons capability. It has encouraged us to be imaginative and resourceful in reaching out to various audiences - Russian, European, and Iranian - to explore peaceful, cooperative solutions. Our Iran project has also given me an occasional opportunity, by phone or in person, to interact with Sally and some of the wonderful members of her Board. I am constantly in touch with members of the non-governmental arms control and nonproliferation community who have benefited so much from Sally's and Ploughshares' strong commitment to our field and our work and who share with me an enormous debt of gratitude to her and her foundation."

- Robert Einhorn, Senior Advisor
Center for Strategic & International Studies
Washington, DC

2007-01-19T14:25:00.000-08:00

"We are grateful to Sally and to Ploughshares for making a continued dialogue with North Korean specialists possible. At a time when State and DOE grants were revised to prohibit spending funds on North Koreans, and the Asia Foundation program of bringing personnel from the DPRK to the U.S. and elsewhere was winding down, Ploughshares came through with a key grant to the Pacific Forum which allowed us to bring North Koreans to several international meetings in 2005/2006 to discuss countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; discussions that were not being conducted elsewhere and would not have taken place without Ploughshares support."

- Ralph Cossa, President
Center for Strategic & International Studies, Pacific Forum
Washington, DC

2007-01-19T14:09:00.001-08:00

"It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of Sally Lilienthal - a warrior, petite in size, but of tremendous stature in the campaign for international peace and security. May we find inspiration in her good example as we continue to work collaboratively in addressing the most complex global challenges. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all."

- John Hamre
President & CEO
Center for Strategic & International Studies
Washington, DC

2006-12-13T11:03:00.000-08:00

"She was always kindness personified, extremely considerate and personally dedicated to the very important tasks that the Fund has supported over the years. All of us in the larger Ploughshares Fund family will miss her very dearly."

- Dipankar Banerjee
Institute of Peace & Conflict Studies
New Delhi

2006-12-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

"Sally is timeless to me and was the reason I became a global advocate for peace, security and rights. She has left a beautiful and eternal legacy through people she touched around the world."

- Jerry White
Landmine Survivors Network
Washington, DC

2006-12-13T10:56:00.000-08:00

"Sally was an absolutely vital figure in supporting researchers, policy activists and scientists in the U.S. and overseas who were trying to change government policies while [governments] were inflating the powers of nuclear weapons."

- George Perkovich
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Washington, DC

2006-12-13T10:53:00.000-08:00

"I regard myself as fortunate for having interacted with her over more than two decades...I am confident that Ploughshares Fund will remain a living testament to her vision for a better and more secure world."

- William C. Potter
Monterey Institute for International Studies
Monterey, CA

2006-12-13T10:43:00.000-08:00

"She was a truly special person, with a vision and a determination not just to do the right thing for peace and justice, but to persuade, cajole and enable others to find the best in themselves to do right."

- Rebecca Johnson
Acronym Institute of Disarmament and Diplomacy
London