Because of his drive and commitment to teach the world to combat hate, Father Patrick O’Neill recently added a new role: Chairman of the Board of the Holocaust Documentation & Education Center. Known to his friends and peers as Father Pat, this former President of St. Thomas University, along with four other university presidents, founded the Holocaust Documentation & Education Center 39 years ago as a multifaceted, nonsectarian, nonprofit organization, with a mission to document the stories, lives, and memories of South Florida’s Holocaust Survivor population, which is the 3rd largest in the world.

Father Pat is the only living member of the prestigious founding team, and he fervently believes, “The Holocaust story doesn’t only belong to the six million Jews who were murdered; it’s a story that belongs to the entire world. And I’m eager to represent the spirit and commitment of the original Founders and of the hundreds of thousands who have been part of the HDEC family!”

“As one of the Center’s original Founders, Father Pat brings to this Chairmanship a deep breadth of knowledge and passion,” said Colin Brown, Chairman, JM Family Enterprises. “I expect that many great things to come under his inspiring leadership.”

Father Pat works tirelessly to make sure the HDEC teaches the enduring, universal lessons of the Holocaust to people of all ages and all walks of life and, as he says, “Unfortunately, we can see from current events, not all of humanity has learned those lessons.” As Chairman of the Board, Father Pat has a goal in mind, “I want to raise enough money in the next two years to fully retrofit the current property to become the first South Florida Holocaust Museum while our remaining Survivors are still with us.”

HDEC Board Member and former Hollywood Mayor Mara Giulianti, counts Father Pat as a friend and mentor. “I have known him for many years, and I have seen his warmth and humor, along with his keen intellect in action and been awed by it! If anyone can get this museum to the promised land—up and running in Dania Beach, Florida—it’s Father Pat!”

HDEC has already presented acclaimed traveling exhibitions to the public. When people ask why another Holocaust Museum, Father Pat explains, “The HDEC has the responsibility of safeguarding tens of thousands of artifacts from South Florida Survivors—both past and present—who have entrusted their memories and relics to the Center. It will be the first bi-lingual Holocaust Museum in the U.S.,” he says with the pride of a true South Florida Educator.

President of the HDEC, Rositta E. Kenigsberg notes, “Father Pat’s compassion and commitment is an inspiration to so many people in our community in so many ways. Since our inception 39 years ago, he has been an unrelenting and universal advocate for the Center, ensuring that the lessons e and legacy of the Holocaust will be preserved and protected for all far into the future. We are so fortunate to have Father Pat as our Chairman.”

About the Holocaust Documentation & Education Center and The South Florida Museum

The Holocaust Documentation & Education Center (HDEC) was founded in 1980 as a nonsectarian, nonprofit, multifaceted organization, to document, preserve and protect the authentic memory of the Holocaust through eye-witness accounts from Survivors and Liberators; and to provide educational outreach programming for teachers and students. Its vision has expanded to utilizing the Holocaust through thought-provoking multi-lingual exhibitions and insightful programming to educate people in all walks of life of the catastrophic ramifications of prejudice, racism, stereotyping and bullying, which tragically still occur today. Using cutting-edge technology such as interactive media and 3-D holograms, the Museum will put names and faces to the victims, raising the sound of their moral voices of conscience to mute the noise of prejudice and hatred. The Museum’s artifacts include an authenticated Holocaust rail car and a U.S. Army M-4A3E8 Sherman Tank, as well as oral history interviews, photographs, documents, journals, books, videos, and other priceless items from the HDEC collection.