Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto meets with Dalai Lama during vacation in India
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto has met with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the mayor’s office said Thursday.
The meeting happened Wednesday in Dharamshala, India during Peduto’s week-long trip to India.
Peduto, Bill Strickland Jr., founder of the Manchester Craftsman’s Guild and the Manchester Bidwell Corp.; Scott Lammie, senior vice president and board treasurer of UPMC’s Insurance Services Division, and Steve Sarowitz, a Chicago businessman and philanthropist met with the Dalai Lama at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
The Dalai Lama’s personal physician, Dr. Barry Kerzin, arranged the meeting.
The mayor early Thursday shared on social media a photograph of him with the group.
“With Bill Strickland, Scott Lammie & Steve Sarowitz in Dharmsala, India, at the invitation of Dr. Barry Kerzin & His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” Peduto posted on Instagram and Twitter.
Strickland in August said he met the Dalai Lama in 2007 while delivering a speech about his work during a panel discussion in Austria. The Dalai Lama sent an emissary to Pittsburgh and toured the Manchester center.
“As he looked around the center, he said, ‘You’ve built the center that His Holiness has always wanted to build. Maybe the two of you could build a center (in India),’” Strickland told the Tribune-Review at the time. “Peduto and I have decided we’re going to go visit His Holiness in India and tee that up. If we pull that one off, man, that’s going to be an interesting story, but I think it’s game on.”
Kerzin visited Pittsburgh in May to help UPMC train nurses and doctors reduce stress through mindfulness and wellness programs.
Peduto’s office said the mayor is paying his own expenses during what his office called a “private vacation.”
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