Harvey Mason Jr., Whoopi Goldberg and Priscilla Presley to Receive 2024 Ellis Island Medal of Honor

1 May, 2024

Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, entertainer Whoopi Goldberg and actress and businesswoman Priscilla Presley are among 88 individuals who will receive 2024 Ellis Island Medals of Honor, the Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) announced on Wednesday (May 1).

The medal ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 18 during a black-tie gala in Ellis Island’s Great Hall, which served as the gateway for 12 million immigrants to the U.S.

The medal has been awarded annually since 1986 to Americans, both U.S.-born and naturalized, to recognize contributions in finance, entertainment, technology, philanthropy and media. “This is a celebration of determination, achievement and service,” EIHS Chairman Nasser J. Kazeminy said in a statement.

Mason, the son of famed drummer Harvey Mason, has received five Grammy nominations and two Primetime Emmy nods. In 2002, Goldberg became the first Black person – and the 10th person overall – to achieve EGOT status. Presley is the cofounder and former chairperson of Elvis Presley Enterprises and an actress best known for Dallas and the Naked Gun films.

Other 2024 Ellis Island Medal of Honor recipients include curator of TED Talks Chris Anderson; NYSE chair Sharon Bowen; former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr.; Princeton University president Christopher L. Eisgruber; businessman and philanthropist David Rockefeller Jr. and documentary filmmaker, author, artist and conservationist Susan Rockefeller; philanthropist and financier Michael Milken; CEO of Fortune magazine Alan Murray; Craigslist founder Craig Newmark; president and CEO of Montefiore Medicine Dr. Philip Ozuah; and founder of CNBC and MSNBC Tom Rogers.