Harvard to honor Elton John’s work to fight HIV, AIDS
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Elton John is being honored at Harvard University for his philanthropic efforts to fight HIV and AIDS.
The 70-year-old singer will be awarded the Harvard Foundation’s Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award in a ceremony Monday afternoon. Previous winners include former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Secretaries General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, Kofi Annan, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Javier Perez de Cuellar.
John, who runs an AIDS foundation, calls the award “both gratifying and tremendously humbling.”
He says he remains committed to “sustain and grow the progress we’ve made to eradicate stigma and end the spread of HIV/AIDS, once and for all.”
John organizes a tennis exhibition in Las Vegas to raise money for his AIDS Foundation, which helps fund research.
Sunday night, John made a surprise appearance at “The Lion King” on Broadway, singing “The Circle of Life” to mark the show’s 20th anniversary.
