Selwa “Lucky” Roosevelt

DETROIT — Ambassadors Selwa “Lucky” Roosevelt and Edward M. Gabriel accepted awards as 2012 Americans of the Year last Saturday. ACCESS, the largest Arab American human services nonprofit in the United States, bestowed the awards on the former diplomats in front of nearly 2,000 supporters at the organization’s 41st anniversary annual dinner. ACCESS distributes the prestigious awards to spotlight the achievements of accomplished Arab Americans.

“The ACCESS annual dinner celebrates the achievements of the community, its thousands of supporters, volunteers and hundreds of employees,” said ACCESS Executive Director Hassan Jaber. “We honor Arab Americans whose success has improved the world in which we live.”

In accepting the awards, the recipients—both children of Lebanese immigrants – said the strong values of their Arab heritage helped them achieve success.

Roosevelt graduated at the top of her class at Vassar College, where she studied international relations. In 1950, she married Archibald Roosevelt, Jr., grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, and balanced her busy career as a journalist with a demanding life as an embassy wife.

Edward M. Gabriel

In 1982 President Ronald Reagan named her chief of protocol. For seven years, Roosevelt organized official dinners and state receptions, accommodations and entertainment for more than 1,000 delegations of world leaders. She traveled with President Reagan and Secretary of State George Schultz, and was responsible for 30,000 members of the foreign diplomatic corps.

Gabriel grew up in Olean, NY, where his family roots were planted firmly in the Maronite church. 

He became the first executive director of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes, helping Native Americans achieve control over their own resources.

In the 1980s he launched a public affairs firm dealing with multilateral energy policy, and in the 1990s was at the forefront of strategic counseling for technology and energy concerns. In 1997, he accepted President Clinton’s nomination as Ambassador to Morocco. For more than three years, Gabriel established a trusting relationship with King Hassan II, leveraged U.S. aid to Morocco and tripled Morocco’s trade with the United States. He also influenced a major policy change on the strategic issue of Western Sahara sovereignty.

Today, Gabriel volunteers on nonprofit boards and advises corporations and government on the Middle East and North Africa. He is a founding member of the American Task Force on Lebanon, working to ban cluster bombs and establish better bilateral relations.