ABOUT US
Operation Heat Ukraine is a the result of a partnership between the Earle I. Mack Foundation and the Pataki Center Ukrainian Relief Fund.
AMBASSADOR EARLE I. MACK
EARLE I. MACK FOUNDATION
Earle I Mack is an American businessman, philanthropist, and former Ambassador to Finland. He has a keen interest in the arts, culture, political policy, and thoroughbred breeding and racing. Ambassador Mack, and his brothers, have developed over 20 million square feet of commercial space in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area and Mack was a founding director of Mack-Cali (NYSE: CLI) in 1997.
Mack served as the United States Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Finland in 2004 and 2005. He served as chairman and CEO of the New York State Council of the Arts in New York from 1996 to 1999, being named Chairman Emeritus upon his retirement. He is also the founding donor of the Drexel University School of Law and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law in May of 2014 where he addressed the graduating class.
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He attended the Fordham Law School and addressed the graduating class in 2009 where he received an honorary Doctor of Law. In addition, he has received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Yeshiva University, a Doctor of Business Administration, honoris causa, from Drexel University, and a Doctor of Humane Letters from Daemen University. Mack has also served as Chairman of the Board of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and was elected Chairman Emeritus upon his retirement.
Mack has long been devoted to the arts and served on the board of directors of the New York City Ballet. He is also a former co-chairman of the board of the Dance Theater of Harlem, and a former member of the New York Governor’s Committee on Scholastic Achievement. He has been involved in the film industry and received a nomination in 1977 from the Academy of Arts and Sciences in the feature documentary category for The Children of Theatre Street. He has also been a producer of a number of films and Broadway plays.
Mack is widely considered a leader in the thoroughbred industry. He is a member of the U.S. Jockey Club, and a strong advocate of aftercare efforts for retired racehorses and transparency in the industry. He currently serves as a trustee of the New York Racing Association and was Chairman of the New York State Racing Commission for seven years. In 2021, Mack was awarded the prestigious Eclipse Award of Merit for his lifetime of outstanding service to the thoroughbred industry.
He is the founder of the Man O’ War Project, in partnership with the Earle I. Mack Foundation, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, which developed the first ever scientifically validated protocol using equine-assisted therapy for veterans suffering from PTSD. The ground-breaking research was so successful, that the therapy is now being studied by Columbia for effectiveness on children suffering from anxiety and trauma.
Mack made a significant contribution to the Haitian people as a first responder in the wake of the devastating January 2010 earthquake. Through his direct early intervention, trauma physicians, surgeons, and medical supplies were quickly dispatched to that country.
Most recently, with the onset of war in Ukraine, Mack has broadened his philanthropic and humanitarian initiatives to help the people of Ukraine, making several trips there, together with Governor George E. Pataki and the Pataki Center Ukrainian Relief Fund. He is a trustee of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation and a Ukrainian Relief patron. Through these on-going efforts, Mack has delivered much needed food, clothing, medicines, housing and other essentials. Currently, he is focusing his efforts on the critical need for self-generating heaters for homes, hospitals, schools and refugee centers in Ukraine.
Presently, Mack serves as a Senior Partner of The Mack Company, whose roots go back over a century. He has also served on the executive committee of the National Realty Council and is a former member of the advisory board for the New York State Business Venture Partnership. Mack is a frequent opinion writer for The Hill.
Ambassador Mack received his Bachelor of Science degree from Drexel University and attended Fordham Law School. He served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Infantry and Military Police, reserve duty. He is married to Carol Dickey Mack and has two children.
GOVERNOR GEORGE E. PATAKI
PATAKI CENTER UKRAINIAN RELIEF FUND
Governor George E Pataki grew up in upstate New York working on the family farm where he learned the power of discipline, community, and hard work. His paternal grandparents, János and Erzsébet Pataki were immigrants from Hungary. After graduating from Columbia Law School, Pataki practiced law, he was a partner in the New York law firm of Plunkett & Jaffe until 1987.
He was elected mayor of Peekskill, New York in 1981, and served in the New York State Legislature as an assemblyman and then a senator from 1985 to 1994, before becoming governor. He was elected New York State’s 53rd Governor in 1994 and won re-election in 1998 and 2002.
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During his tenure as New York’s chief executive, Governor Pataki advanced award-winning, cutting-edge policies in the renewable energy and environmental fields. His initiatives included the protection of over one million acres of open space, the adoption of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the implementation of the nation’s first green building tax credit, landmark brownfield legislation and programs to enhance the production and use of alternative energy like biodiesel, ethanol, fuel cells and clean coal.
He is currently president of his own small business, The Pataki-Cahill Group, that works in energy, infrastructure, and clean-tech and a Counsel with Chadbourne and Parke LLC, where his practice focuses on energy, environmental and corporate matters.
George and his wife Libby Pataki have been married for over forty years. They have four children; Emily, Teddy, Allison, and Owen and two dogs named Balto and Bradley. Emily is a former attorney currently focusing on raising her children. Teddy served as a Marine officer in Iraq, works for the Knights of Columbus, and is a father. Allison is a historical fiction novelist, and the New York Times bestselling author of The Traitor’s Wife and The Accidental Empress, and their youngest son, Owen, is an Army officer who recently returned from Afghanistan and will attend grad school for film. Allison is also an Ambassador of the ReConnect Hungary program, a cultural immersion program for young Hungarian Americans.