BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Roger Mayer will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Thursday.
Academy President Frank Pierson said the president of the Turner Entertainment Co. will receive the award at the 77th Academy Award ceremonies in Hollywood on Feb. 27, 2005, in recognition of his work on behalf of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, and his promotion of film preservation.
"Throughout a more than half-century-long career in the motion picture industry Roger has been a fixture on the boards of a wide variety of charitable organizations," said Pierson. "He has always given his time to support the needs of his industry."
Mayer has served the Motion Picture and Television Fund for over 25 years, eight of them as chair of its Board of Trustees. Hersholt, after whom the award is named, was an organizer of the MPTF.
Mayer is the founding chair of the board of directors of the National Film Preservation Foundation. The organization was established by Congress in 1996 at the recommendation of the Library of Congress to preserve "orphan films" -- films with no studio or other entity with an economic incentive to preserve them.
