Honoring Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky for receiving the 2003 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

WHEREAS, Stu Bykofsky has lived in Philadelphia since 1966 and has worked at the Philadelphia Daily News since 1972, working his way up the ranks to become the leading columnist in Philadelphia, having written more than 3,000 columns for the Daily News since 1987; and

WHEREAS, The National Society of Newspaper Columnists each year bestows its Will Rogers Humanitarian Award to a columnist “whose work has positively affected readers lives’ and produced tangible benefits for the community”; and

WHEREAS, This year the National Society of Newspaper Columnists selected Stu Bykofsky for this prestigious honor, based upon both his advocacy through his column and his extracurricular fundraising for various causes; and

WHEREAS, Over the past decade, Stu’s annual Candidates’ Comedy Club Night has raised more than $150,000 for Variety Club programs that support handicapped children, and Stu, a Variety Club board member, has also organized a fund-raiser at McCormick & Schmick’s in which profits from his specially chosen dishes went to help disabled kids; and

WHEREAS, Stu is also a board member of the Mike Goffredo Memorial, a yearly entertainment and food extravaganza in memory of the late “unofficial mayor” of South Philadelphia, which raises thousands for St. John Neumann High; and

WHEREAS, Stu is also a huge supporter of the City’s Mural Arts program, to which he helped raise $60,000 for a Frank Sinatra mural through his column, and Stu frequently serves as a celebrity judge, host and roaster for many various charity fund-raisers; and

WHEREAS, Stu is widely respected for his advocacy through his column on behalf of the cause of animals, and it was Stu’s outrage and compassion over the brutal death of Duke the Dalmatian that resulted in a nomination by the Daily News for a Pulitzer Prize, and more recently, Stu helped promote the Fur Ball to raise funds for the Morris Animal Shelter; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That Council hereby honor and congratulate columnist Stu Bykofsky.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of the resolution be presented to Stu Bykofsky as evidence of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.

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