2005 SBAA Scholarship Gala Awardees : Prof. Leon Lysaght & Alex Machaskee

Photo Album 1 : Photo Album 2

The 2005 SBAA Scholarship Gala has two very special awardees, both of whom deserve our admiration, respect and attendance at this year’s Gala on Saturday, November 19.

The Czar Dushan Award is given to Serbian American lawyers who have excelled in their legal work and who have, through their legal careers, demonstrated leadership in the community. Leon Lysaght has achieved something that no other Serbian American lawyer has achieved, becoming a tenured full professor of law at one of the better law schools in the US, University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. A graduate of the University of Chicago School of Law (1965), Professor Lysaght was born in Butte, Montana and was raised in Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church there, the grandson of Serbian immigrants from Hercegovina. He is a member of the Serbian Bar Association and of St. Lazarus Serbian Orthodox Cathedral (Ravanica) in Detroit, Michigan. He has been involved with both St. Sava Serbian Orthodox School of Theology in Libertyville and with St. Vladimir Orthodox Seminary in Crestwood, New York, where he is a member of the Board of Trustees. He has worked on legal and philanthropic projects in the former Yugoslavia. We look forward to hearing his eloquent remarks at the 2005 Gala!

The Merit Award is given to those individuals, both Serbs and non-Serbs, who through their work and life demonstrate support for the Serbian American community and its institutions. Alex Machaskee is the President and Publisher of “The Cleveland Plain Dealer,” which during his long tenure has been the most fair and unbiased reporter of news related to the former Yugoslavia. Most importantly, he is one of the most respected journalists in the United States, whose reputation as a great American and proud Serb is known both in the highest circles of the Bush administration and in every Serbian parish in Cleveland area. Born in Youngstown, Ohio and raised in Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church there, Mr. Machaskee (pre-Ellis Island Macesic) roots are in Kordun in the Serbian Krajina region. He is a member of St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Parma, Ohio, the Serb National Federation, the Serbian Unity Congress and host of Cleveland, Ohio and US civic and fraternal organizations. The SBAA is honored to have a man of Mr. Machaskee’s stature accept the SBAA Merit Award.