Janet Langhart Cohen
Journalist, Author & Playwright
Recipient of Hoosier Heritage Award

Janet Langhart Cohen, President and CEO of Langhart Communications, LLC is an Emmy-nominated journalist. During her 25-year career, Mrs. Cohen, a native Hoosier, has appeared on ABC, CBS, NBC and BET and as an overseas correspondent, interviewing major newsmakers and leaders of the 20th century. She has also worked as a columnist for the Boston Herald and spokesperson for U.S. News and World Report, served as spokeswoman for Avon Cosmetics, and advised the Miss America Organization.

Janet played an active role in initiatives aimed at the morale and well-being of the Defense Department’s military and civilian employees during the tenure of her husband, William S. Cohen, as Secretary of Defense. She is also actively involved in the provision of higher education for underprivileged children.

She wrote her first book, a memoir titled, From Rage to Reason: My Life in Two Americas in 2004. In 2007, she and her husband co-wrote Love in Black and White, a memoir about race, religion and romance and the bonds they share over similar life circumstances and backgrounds. Most recently, Mrs. Cohen has written Anne & Emmett, a one-act play of a conversation between Nazi child victim, Anne Frank, and child victim, Emmett Till of Jim Crow America.
 

Richard E. Ford
Preservationist & Philanthropist
Recipient of the Hoosier Heritage Award

For Richard E. Ford, the attributes of vision, passion and dedication are second nature. Whether in business as a director in the family business, the Ford Meter Box Company, founded by his grandfather Edwin Ford, as the past chairman of the National Trust for the Historic Preservation Council, or as a board member for such organizations like the American Museum in Britain, Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, The Indianapolis Museum of Art, or the Indiana Historical Society, Richard Ford brings to the table unending energy, compassion and drive.

Ford is a business graduate of Indiana University and remains an active alumnus. A resident of Wabash, Indiana, his honors include being the recipient of two Sagamores of the Wabash and being named a Living Legend by the Indiana Historical Society.
 

The Honorable Richard G. Lugar
United States Senator
Recipient of Hoosier Heritage Award

Richard G. Lugar, a fifth generation Hoosier, is the most senior Republican in the U.S. Senate and the longest serving U.S. Senator in Indiana history. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1976, he is the Republican leader of the Foreign Relations Committee and a member and former chairman of the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. Prior to his election to the Senate, Lugar was a two-term mayor of Indianapolis, where he led the effort of unifying the city and the surrounding Marion County into one government. Unigov, as Mayor Lugar’s plan was called, set the city on a path of uninterrupted economic growth.

Senator Lugar manages his family’s 604-acre Marion county corn, soybean and tree farm. Before entering public life, he helped manage the family’s food machinery manufacturing business with his brother Tom.

Lugar earned his bachelor’s degree from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. He and his wife, Charlene, have four sons and 13 grandchildren.