THE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

MICHEL GRUN

Honored: 2013
Location: Antwerp, Belgium

Michel Grun, chairman of the European Maccabi Confederation 1984–1999, and co-chair of the 1987 (Copenhagen), 1991 (Marseilles) and 1995 (Amsterdam) European Maccabi Games, has been named recipient of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame's 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award.
 
When the Belgium-born executive board member of Antwerp's Diamant Kring ('Circle') and Diamond High Council accepted the leadership role in EMC, the Confederation had 17 territorial organizations. When he retired from the top position 15 years later, EMC membership stood at 32, including the reappearance of Maccabiah delegations from Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Turkey, Czechoslovakia, Spain and Russia (CIS).

Grun joined the Maccabi World Union Executive and International Maccabiah Committee in 1977, serving as MWU's vice-president 1998–2006.

In 2002, at the age of 54, Grun was named Honorary President of the European Maccabi Confederation. As of 2012, no one currently serving the EMC or MWU has been a top leadership member as long as Grun.

The son of Holocaust survivors, Grun chaired the first Maccabiah International Safety, Security & Medical Services Committee in 2001, and again in 2005 and 2009. SSMS is an extension of Grun's professional life: security of Antwerp's diamond district. In 2004, "for exceptional services to his trade", King Albert of Belgium honored him as an Officer in the Civil Order of Leopold II, one rank above those entitled to Ridder ("Knight" or "Sir").

(Formal presentation of Lifetime Achievement honors will take place July 2013, at the IJSHOF museum at Wingate Institute, Netanya, Israel.)

The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually, honoring those individuals who have made significant contributions to the State of Israel and society through sports.

 
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