Nominations for the 4th annual Ned E. Kalb Community Leadership Award are being accepted through March 2, 2015.
Kalb was a true leader in LaPorte County for many years. He died on Nov. 19, 2011, and a county award was instituted to honor and memorialize his life and deeds in LaPorte County and beyond. The Ned E. Kalb Community Leadership Award annually recognizes a quiet, behind-the-scenes leader in LaPorte County. Joint sponsors of the award are the Purdue Extension Office of LaPorte County and Leadership LaPorte County, two organizations that Kalb impacted.
“Ned was a key founder of Leadership LaPorte County,” said Jim Jessup, a 30-year volunteer for the organization, which started in the Extension Office. “He spent several years in the early 1980s guiding and facilitating the new non-profit training group.”
Kalb served for 15 years as LaPorte County’s extension director and served on many boards, both public and private. He was an educator and connector. Current Extension Director Hugh Tonagel remembers Kalb as someone who recognized needs and got things done. “He worked with people and organizations to improve our quality of life in LaPorte County, and he did it with little fanfare and recognition,” Tonagel said.
After leaving LaPorte County, Kalb went on to serve extension offices in other counties and later went overseas to teach underdeveloped countries to be self-sufficient through modern farming and business methods.
Past recipients of the Kalb Award are John Coulter, James Dworkin, and George and Dory Morley.
Nominees can be individuals or organizations. Nomination forms are available from the Leadership or Extension offices. Call 219-325-8223, 219-324-9407, or 219-874-5611, or email info@leadershiplaportecounty.com. A panel of local leaders will select the winner, who will be announced and honored at the annual Extension meeting March 30.