Henri Landwirth as a child faced death every day as a prisoner in Auschwitz and other German concentration camps. He not only survived, but prospered, and became the personification of the American dream, dedicating his life to helping others.

Landwirth was born in Belgium in 1927. His childhood was shattered by the advance of the Nazi army across the face of Europe. He saw friends and family separated and segregated living in desperate circumstances for the single reason that they were Jewish. He watched as friends and family were starved, beaten, killed, or simply disappeared. Landwirth's father, Max, was killed fairly early in the War. His mother, Fannie, and his twin sister, Margot, were all placed into the same concentration camp. Tragically, Henri's mother lived within a few months before the end of the War only to be put on board ship with a thousand others which was then blown up at sea.

Landwirth was lucky. In 1945, he was brought before a firing squad, but inexplicably, the soldiers lowered their rifles and told Henri to run. He ran for days until he collapsed. He was found and nursed back to health by a Czechoslovakian couple who informed him that the War was over. Landwirth, now 18, traveled from refugee camp to refugee camp until finally he found Margot.

In 1950, Landwirth emigrated to the United States, making his way across the Atlantic on a cargo ship with only $20 to his pocket. Three months after passing through Ellis Island, he was drafted by the United States Army. Landwirth took full advantage of his military service to learn everything he could learn. Thereafter, he used his rights under the G.I. Bill to take courses in hotel management and found employment in a New York City hotel. He started at the bottom, but worked his way up the ladder by doing the work of others as well as his own. For example, he bribed the night accountant with a bottle of whiskey and then did that man's work for him. In this way, he learned every job in the hotel.

Married in 1954, he went with his bride to Florida and within a few months he and his wife had moved to the state. He worked in a department store and as a short-order cook until he landed a job running the 100-room Starlight Hotel in Coco Beach, Florida.

Fortune smiled on Landwirth. These were the early days of America's space program and the Starlight became home to the original Mercury 7 astronauts as well as their families, the media, and other VIPs who gathered there. Landwirth impressed everyone with whom he came in contact with his honesty and integrity and because he used his success in business only as the means for what he considered a larger and more important goal--helping others. When Walt Disney moved to Florida, Landwirth sensed the opportunity and along with several partners, including Senator John Glenn, obtained a Holiday Inn franchise near the main gate of Walt Disney World.

The more Landwirth prospered, the more he did for others. He worked with retarded children, giving them employment in his hotels. He helped build a clinic for children with cerebral palsy. In honor of his mother, he began the Fannie Landwirth Foundation which allowed him to do still more good works. He built a senior citizen center, gave scholarships to poor kids in Israel, and created a scholarship program to allow Israeli children to come to the United States as visiting scholars. He began transportation programs for the handicapped and disabled and provided housing and meals for families giving them food or emergency financial assistance.

In 1985, Landwirth founded "Give Kids the World" as a means of helping terminally ill children and saying thanks to his adopted country for the many blessings he had received. Landwirth's Holiday Inn was part of an informal network committed to fulfilling the last wish of dying children, most of whom asked to meet Mickey Mouse. The red tape and the delay were interminable and Landwirth was outraged to learn that a child from Michigan died while waiting for paperwork to be completed. He decided that something had to be done and personally contributed a million dollars toward the creation of the village, a specially designed hotel and recreation complex for the sick kids and their families. He talked builders, suppliers, and laborers into donating their services and in short order the village was up and running. Landwirth secured free airline tickets for the children and their families, a free vehicle, free meals, as well as free tickets to Disneyland. More than 4,000 terminally ill children and their families visited the village in 1991.

Asked why he does all of this, he says, "I love life. I shouldn't be here. By all rights I should have died. My whole life was a miracle. I feel it is my duty to give something back. You've got to give of yourself-- not money, but the essence of yourself. That is what makes life meaningful."