Fifteen members of the international diamond and jewelry community will be honored for their distinguished service to the diamond industry on Tuesday, May 16, 2006, as part of the celebration by the New York Dealers Club of the 75th anniversary of its founding. The awards will be presented during a morning event, which will take place in the Rainbow Room, on the 64th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan.

Each of the honorees will be presented with a special pin that was designed for the occasion.

The 15 honorees are as follows:

* Artur Beller, President of Beurs Voor Diamanthandel, Antwerp, Belgium
* Gaetano Cavalieri, President of CIBJO, The World Jewellery Confederation, Milan, Italy
* Zvi Farber, former DDC vice president, New York
* Eli Haas, former DDC president, New York
* Eli Izhakoff, chairman of the World Diamond Council
* Ken Kahn, executive managing partner of the Forty Seventh Fifth Company at 580 Fifth Avenue, New York
* Arthur Margolin, executive managing partner of the Forty Seventh Fifth Company at 580 Fifth Avenue, New York
* Anna Martin, senior vice president and regional manager, ABN AMRO International Diamond & Jewelry Group, New York
* Willie Nagel, founder of DTC Broker W. Nagel, London, United Kingdom
* Rory More O’Ferrall, director External Affairs, De Beers, London, United Kingdom
* Avi Paz, president of the Israel Diamond Exchange, Ramat Gan, Israel
* Ray Perlman, chairman of the DDC Board of Directors, New York
* Jacques Roisen, former president of the International Diamond Manufacturers Association, New York
* Jacky Roth, president of the HRD, Antwerp, Belgium
* Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chief operating office, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

During the gala dinner that same day, the DDC will honor three diamond industry leaders for their lifetime contribution to the trade. They are Kaushik K. Mehta, chairman of Antwerp-headquartered Eurostar Diamond Traders; Serguei Oulin, vice president of Alrosa Ltd, and president of the Diamond Chamber of Russia, from Moscow; and Shmuel Schnitzer, president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses, from Tel Aviv. The DDC will itself be recognized by the U.S. Department of Commerce. David A. Sampson, deputy secretary of Commerce, will honor the club in recognition of its continuing contribution to the United States’ export performance.

JCK