Dr. Claude Ganz is known for his business acumen as well as for being a strategic advisor for start-up businesses.
At Sonoma State University he was the tireless driving force in the formation of a significant new Jewish Studies Program.
The Sonoma County man will be awarded an Honorary Degree at SSU's Commencement exercises on Saturday, May 23 at the Rohnert Park campus.
A survivor of the Holocaust, he is an advocate for Jewish education as a way of promoting interfaith tolerance.
His time and vision not only resulted in the well-received Jewish Studies Program, but he raised funds to support its permanent endowment.
Dr. Ganz emigrated to the United States from Europe. After fleeing Germany with his family during the Hitler regime, he went to France where he was placed in a deportation campus from which he and his family escaped to Switzerland in 1942. After four years of Swiss internment as a refugee, he came to California in 1947.
From 1951-1954, he served in the U.S. Army Intelligence Service. Two years later, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Industrial Management.
Dr. Ganz has enjoyed a highly successful career and a distinguished professional life. From 1956 to 1978, he was the chairman and Chief Executive Officer for DYMO Industries, a multi-national company.
In 1962, he received the President Kennedy Award for Export Expansion. In 1987, when his European-based company was bought out by the Swedish government, the King of Sweden honored Dr. Ganz with a medal for his contributions to the Swedish economy.
In 1996, Dr. Ganz and his wife Lynn were appointed Special Envoys by President Clinton to aid with the peace process in war-torn Bosnia.
On his return from Bosnia, Dr. Ganz founded BDi, a non-profit foundation to provide entrepreneurship education in the Balkans. He was awarded the Peace Prize by the Bosnian Government for that effort.
NOTE: A digital photo of Claude Ganz is available upon request.
