Thursday 17th January in the ballroom of The Plaza Hotel in New York, the business elite, celebrities, and conservationists all gathered to celebrate and honour the 2013 winner of the Audubon medal, Louis Bacon.
The annual Audubon Society Gala pays tribute and gives thanks to those who have gone above and beyond in the name of conservation. No-one can argue that Louis Bacon is not a deserving winner, having worked relentlessly for years to save the American land and animal habitat.
Hosted by NBC’s Tom Brokaw, special guests Bette Midler, Uma Thurman, Mayor Bloomberg, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. all sat in support of the work that Louis Bacon has done with his charity the Moore Charitable Foundation.
With press bigwigs such as Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Post present it’s clear that this awards ceremony is a big deal. With all those in attendance the charity were able to raise an amazing $2.4 million for The Audubon Society.
During his speech the usually publicity shy hedge fund manager Louis Bacon quoted a poignant exert from Gone With The Wind: Because I am a southerner, I am going to quote from the Good Book. And because I am a southerner, you know what I mean by “Good Book.” I mean “Gone with the Wind.” And so I quote Scarlett O’Hara’s father Gerald when she has disdain for the family plantation: “Do you mean to tell me, Katie Scarlett O’Hara, that Tara... that land doesn’t mean anything to you? Why, land is the only thing in the world worth workin’ for, worth fightin’ for, worth dyin’ for, because it’s the only thing that lasts.”
Previous winners of The Audubon Medal include Rachel Carson, Ted Turner, and Robert Redford. Louis Bacon created the largest single conservation easement in Colorado known at the Trinchera Ranch, which he then donated to Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts.
Louis Bacon is on the Forbes 400 list with a net worth of $1.3 billion, at aged 54 he’s still managing funds with no signs of retiring just yet.
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