Governor George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced the appointment of a nine-member search committee to select the Chair of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Foundation, Inc. The Foundation is a non-profit entity that will raise funds for and coordinate the planning and construction of the Memorial, the interpretive museum and related cultural facilities on 6-1/2 acres of the World Trade Center site.

The search committee will include several family members and other distinguished New Yorkers such as John C. Whitehead, Chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Richard Parsons, Chairman and CEO of Time Warner, Inc. and former U.S. Senator George Mitchell.

Governor George E. Pataki said, "The entire World Trade Center site will always be a living memorial with 'Reflecting Absence' as its centerpiece. The Chair of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Foundation will be entrusted with perhaps the most significant civic responsibility of our time - ensuring that this powerful expression of remembrance and perseverance is realized. I want to thank the nine prominent members of the search committee who have committed themselves to identifying the best person for this task."

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said, "At the heart of the World Trade Center site will be the memorial, which will create a unique and powerful setting in which to honor those who were lost on September 11, 2001. I am confident that this search committee will select a chair whose work will be a great tribute to this City, and to all New Yorkers."

The Chair of the Foundation will lead a distinguished board of directors in undertaking the historic fund-raising campaign to implement architects Michael Arad's and Peter Walker's design for the memorial on the World Trade Center site. The design, Reflecting Absence, features reflecting pools within sunken voids that encompass the footprints of the Twin Towers and provides a final resting place for all of the unidentified remains of those killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. The Foundation will also be charged with coordinating the funding and construction of an interpretive center that will preserve artifacts from the attacks and convey individual stories of lives lost, as well as the related cultural facilities.

John C. Whitehead, Chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, said, "The driving force behind the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan has been the creation of a beautiful and fitting memorial to the victims who gave their lives in the name of liberty. This foundation will make the dream of an internationally acclaimed memorial and world class cultural institutions a reality, a very special place to reflect and remember the sacrifices made and the heroism witnessed around the world. Every one who witnessed this terrible tragedy and the aftermath will want to participate and support this most important undertaking."

The search committee will be chaired by LMDC Chairman John C. Whitehead and will include the following members: Paula Grant Berry, family member; Monika Iken, family member; Ira M. Millstein, Senior Partner, Weil, Gotshal and Manges, LLP; George Mitchell, former United States Senator; Richard Parsons, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Inc.; Marshall Rose, Chairman of the Georgetown Group; Walter Shipley, former Chairman of Chase Manhattan Corporation; and, Preston Robert Tisch, Co-chair of Loews Corporation.

The committee will meet over the next several weeks and is expected to select a Chair in March, at which time the structure and composition of the Foundation will also be announced. Later this year, the Foundation will launch a major fundraising campaign inviting donations from around the world to support this private initiative. In the interim, donations, made payable to the World Trade Center Site Memorial Foundation, can be sent to:

World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, Inc.
PO Box 5024
Bowling Green Station
New York, NY 10274-5024