Descendants of Distinguised Compatriots Abroad

July 8, 2008 – President Hotel (Moscow, Russia):
Honored guests included descendants of Sikorsky, Sheremetev, Pushkin, Shalyapin, Witte, Rodzyanko, Shakhovsky, etc. Prominent among the children and grandchildren of the highly regarded and respected forebears was Dr. Patricia Thompson, accomplished author and CUNY Professor herself, who is also known as Elena Vladimirovna Mayakovskaya, the only child of the world renown poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. Dr. Thompson, a very active member of the advisory Board of the Russian American Cultural Center Olga Zatsepina, PhD, as she received the Lomonosov medal from the Chairman of the Non-Government Committee of Russia, Viktor Shevchenko.

All who attended gave high praise for the organizing of the event and voiced appreciation for the opportunity to meet and enjoy the company of so many of their contemporaries. Despite the importance and renown of their families, many had never met before and never before had so many of them been in the same room together. Responding to comments from the attendees, Dr. Zatsepina indicated that RACH-C will consider ways to bring at least those distinguished compatriots who live in the United States together again, in New York.