Tributes

Herb Gleason has been the heart and soul of the Seminar from our earliest years to the present. He  has always been a believer in our mission...which  is to provide a nexus for conversation between  young,emerging leaders and experienced, elder statesmen in every field possible. Herb is the Seminar!

Heather Sturt Haaga
Chair of the Board, Salzburg Global Seminar

Herb was present for and helped write every chapter in this institution’s remarkable history. It is no exaggeration to say we wouldn’t be here today without his optimism, dedication, and commitment to our founding ideals.

Stephen L. Salyer
President, Salzburg Global Seminar

Just six weeks ago, Herb welcomed me to his home during our special health care seminar in Boston. Ever the gentleman and ever passionate about the Seminar, he brewed the perfect coffee to accompany our intense breakfast discussions of Salzburg news, plans and gossip. His speech at Massachusetts General Hospital was filled with insight, conviction and wit, with hardly a hint of his fragility. A great last outing for a great and generous man.

Clare Shine
Vice-President and Chief Program Officer

When I first met Herbert back in 1987 and asked him what the Salzburg Seminar was, he responded with classic Herbert  bravado (but without a hint of presumption), "What do you mean? I AM the Salzburg Seminar!"  He will live on with all of us in the spirit of the Seminar.

Timothy W. Ryback
Deputy-Secretary General of the Académie Diplomatique Internationale
Former Director and Vice President of Salzburg Global Seminar

There simply could not be a more passionate person than Herbert Gleason. Passionate for all that he believed in so deeply: justice and equity for all, health care and education regardless of circumstance, wise leadership in law and government, solutions to difference through dialogue and communication. I like to think everything he cared about and to which his life was devoted was best summed up in his passion for the Salzburg Global Seminar.

Early on in my career at the Seminar, Herb asked me how things were going. I quickly responded that my work felt like a “continuous Salzburg seminar.” Herb simply smiled! Indeed, I will always think that for Herb his adult life was one big Salzburg seminar.  He never stopped questioning; he never believed there wasn’t a positive solution; he never met a stranger he didn’t intend to get to know or to attempt to understand; he saw the good in this extraordinary world and never lost hope that committed people of goodwill could change the world.

I am proud to have been able to call Herb and Nancy friends. They were unfailingly welcoming to me for the more than 20 years I knew them. It was a special pleasure to be asked by Herb to accompany a musician friend of his on the piano at Herb’s 80th birthday celebration. What a happy time and a happy memory, one of so many in Boston and in Salzburg.

May the Salzburg Global Seminar continue to embody the passion and the personality of Herbert Gleason as long as it endures!

Amy Hastings
Former Acting President, Salzburg Global Seminar