Carter Center honors John and Laura Hardman with first humanitarian award for hope
A new award at the Carter Center is honoring the people who helped build and carry on Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's work. The first recipients of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Humanitarian Award for Hope have been part of that mission for decades.
Dr. John Hardman and his wife, Laura, have devoted decades of service to Atlanta, Washington and communities around the world. The Carter Center is recognizing the pair, saying they embody the late president and first lady's compassion, leadership and action.
"So much of my life has been linked to the work the Carters were doing on many different levels," John Hardman said.
John helped lead the center for more than 20 years, serving as its first CEO from 1993 to 2014. Laura worked on Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign and then in the White House. She has also served as president of the Alliance Theatre and the Woodruff Arts Center and as a trustee of Emory University.
"Everything the Carters did, and that I had the opportunity to participate in with John, was all about building hope," Laura said.
Jason Carter, chair of the Carter Center's board of trustees and grandson of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, said the Hardmans helped build his grandparents' legacy.
"John and Laura were really there with them from the beginnings of the Carter Center through today. And they are a part of our family in many ways," he said.
He said his grandparents built a remarkable legacy of advancing human rights, improving public health and alleviating human suffering, with the Hardmans working alongside them.
During John Hardman's tenure, the Carter Center trained more than 25 million farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, expanded election observation worldwide and worked to reduce Guinea worm disease.
The Hardmans said the honor came as a total surprise and credited the people they worked alongside.
"Whether it was with people around the world who were in dire need. That's who they looked for and that's who they worked with," Laura said.
"Knowing that individuals here at the center have continued that work. I mean, the people here are outstanding, just outstanding," John said.
