GEORGE VOLSKY
Mainly Mozart Festival Founder
Journalist, lecturer, TV producer and commentator, George Volsky was a long-time Florida correspondent for The New York Times. Between 1962 and 1993, based in Coral Gables, he covered for The TimesMiami-Dade County’s and Florida’s political, economic and social issues, as well as politics in Cuba, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. In 1970 he initiated the U.S. coverage of the drug smuggling, and later reported on the Watergate scandal and on the local “contra” aspects of the Nicaraguan political upheaval.
After retirement from The Times, he has continued penning commentaries about Miami-Dade, principally Coral Gables, for the Coral Gables Gazette. When the Gazette closed last year, he has begun sending his writings electronically to some 400 persons, many personal friends, who as a group can be regarded as prominent opinion-makers. His Coral Gables columns, based on incisive reporting that uncovered many questionable activities in City Hall, led to the dishonorable discharge of the city manager and later to the election and reelection of the new mayor and the installation of a professional city administration.
Since 1997, George Volsky has been producing and directing the Spanish-language TV program “Actualidad Semanal,” transmitted Sunday mornings on the Telemiami News Network. In the program, in which many prestigious leaders of Miami-Dade County regularly appear, local, national and international affairs are discussed.
Educated at the London School of Economics (and having served in the Royal Air Force), he was a consultant to and written for various national and international news organizations and research “think tanks”, including ABC, BBC, NBC, France-TV3, Univision, the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, the American Assembly at Columbia University, the U.S. Information Agency, the University of Miami, the Florida International University, the Miami Dade College and others. For decades, his articles, mostly on political history, have appeared in many prestigious publications, among them Encyclopedia Americana and the Hoover Institution.
For many decades he has been very active as volunteer in Miami-Dade’s cultural affairs. Member (1977-1982) of the first, seminal Cultural Affairs Council of the county, he was instrumental in the creation of its Art in Public Places Trust, of which he was also member. He served for 12 years on the Vizcaya Museum and Garden Trust, from its 1998 inception. In 1992, he originated the Coral Gables Cultural Affairs Council, and continues to serve as chairman. In 1993, he organized and for 17 years directed the Coral Gables Mainly Mozart Festival, a chamber music series which has attained national and international prestige and acclaim. George VolskyHe was also senior member, and for a year chairman of the Hispanic Heritage Council.
Decorated by Great Britain for he RAF wartime service, in 2001 he was awarded by Johannes Rau, the President the Federal Republic of Germany, the Cross of the Order of Merit, the highest decoration Germany bestows on its citizens and foreigners, equivalent to the U.S. Medal for Merit, or the French Legion of Honor.
George Volsky lives in Coral Gables with his wife, Mercedes Rovira. His son, George, also a Coral Gables resident, is a Miami attorney.