When Mr. George W. Connell decided to establish an annual gold medal to honor a lifetime of achievement in liberty, it was only natural that he ask it to be named for Murray N. Rothbard. When we consulted on the proper first recipient, there was also no dissent. It should be Burton S. Blumert, CEO of Camino Coins in Burlingame, California, chairman of the Mises Institute, and president of the Center for Libertarian Studies.
Mr. Connell sent the following message to be read by Lew Rockwell at the award ceremony, August 31, 2003.
"In his decades as a practicing capitalist, Burt has shown us all in the most practical terms, why we love that system and the entrepreneurs who drive it. In his patronage of Murray, and so many others, he has shown why the productive and successful are essential to our culture and to the struggle for freedom; in his leadership of the Mises Institute and the Center for Libertarian Studies, he has helped erect the structure of scholarship and freedom that can help win this fight.
"Whether hosting Dr. Mises for a speech not far from where you are many years ago, or holding this event today, he has never stopped fighting, never stopped believing, never stopped achieving. Burt, Murray loved you, and so do we. On behalf of all your admirers and of the Mises Institute, it is my great honor and pleasure to help make possible the Murray N. Rothbard Medal of Freedom, and its first award to you."
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