American Jewish Committee Honors John Haupert

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) 2025 National Human Relations Award Dinner held up its annual Hotel St Regis tradition on Nov. 13 to honor John Haupert, president and CEO of the Grady Hospital System.

Majestic ruby red rose centerpieces reigned high above the tables to help express the upbeat tempo of AJC Regional Director Dov Wilker’s optimism, who stated, “We have come out of some excruciating years … hostage taking … constant fear on different levels with tears of sadness … giving way to joy and positive stories, saluting those who stand with us. It is not lost on us that people, college students, elected officials, diplomats, some even driving from Athens to all show up here … to show a belief in the future and that antisemitism won’t be tolerated.”

AJC President Mindy Selig Shoulberg welcomed the crowd and introduced two college students, Stella Gegax and Kitty Lubin, who participated in the AJC’s Black Jewish Teen Initiative and AJC’s Leaders for Tomorrow. Gegax spoke of attending a Black church for the first time as “much different than the shul I grew up in … in Morningside.”

Note they had just returned from a Civil Rights trip to Alabama and met Sen. Raphael Warnock. Lubin related the discomfort she felt when wearing an FIDF sweatshirt to school and being called into the principal’s office.

Shoulberg then shared that $825,000 was raised for that evening’s event, touting AJC’s ability to make a difference, while she met with Pope Leo, visited Israel and Gaza, met with the Ambassador to Ukraine in Washington, D.C., all while furthering advocacy and building bridges. The invocation was given by Dr. Tony Sundermeir, senior pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, who wished for peace in Jerusalem and praised Haupert’s and Grady’s devotion to leadership that “helps those left out or left behind.”

Wilker conducted a panel with Keith White, director of multi-cultural affairs at the Holy Innocents School, and Tomer Zvulun, artistic director of the Atlanta Opera. Zvulun, who served as a combat medic in the IDF, spoke of feeling like a burdened Tevya from “Fiddler on the Roof,” while acknowledging that hate crimes were at a record high in 2022. “Yet, today is even worse.”

White spoke of AJC’s support in school for staff and faculty. Wilker then gave an impassioned speech about Jews and peoplehood, creating a community.

Larry Gellerstedt III, partner at Sweetwater Holdings, praised Haupert’s resilience at Grady dealing with broken pipes and COVID with his moral compass and values. “Just think, Wellstar closed two facilities in South Fulton … while no patients are turned away at Grady. Most hospitals operate at a 10 to 12 percent margin. Grady’s is 2 percent on the edge; while 40 percent of patients do not pay.”

Jonathan Lewin, MD, emeritus EVP for health affairs and CEO of Emory University Healthcare, labeled Haupert a “true mensch.” Last year’s award recipient, Donna Hyland, president and CEO of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, stated, “John makes it possible for us to sleep. Grady is there if we need it … and many of our better trained doctors were trained at Grady. If I’m ever having a bad day, I think ‘hmm, what kind of worse day is John having?’”

Haupert accepted the award, thanked his husband, Brian, and related how his family contained a plethora of doctors and how his feisty grandmother tried to get into Harvard Medical School in 1917. Then, when she labeled him as “superintendent” (realizing that he was not going to be a physician), she said, “That will do,” pleasing Haupert. He shared that his training was at Parkland and Methodist hospitals in Texas and explained that we should be “outward, not inward looking, as Grady is a reflection of our humanity.”

Wilker concluded, “Health care, like justice, must not depend on privilege. Our shared humanity is stronger than anything that separates us. We are stewards of each other’s wellbeing.”

In the pre-function hour, Steve Selig told the AJT, “This is a wonderful crowd to salute a wonderful man.”