9:56 a.m., Dec. 8, 2010----The University of Delaware's Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management (HRIM) has announced that Ryan German, a UD alumnus and owner of the popular Newark restaurant Caffe Gelato, has been selected its 2010 Renaissance Award winner.

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HRIM has presented the Renaissance Award annually since 2006 to an individual who furthers town and gown relations by making Newark a better place to live and learn.

German joins past winners Newark Mayor Vance Funk; David E. Hollowell, UD executive vice president and treasurer emeritus; fellow restaurateur Bob Ashby; and Bill Sullivan, managing director of Marriott's Courtyard Newark at the University of Delaware hotel.

This year's Renaissance Award was presented during a special dinner held Friday, Dec. 3, at HRIM's Vita Nova Restaurant in the Trabant University Center.

A graduate of UD's Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, which houses HRIM, German is the owner of Caffé Gelato and a managing partner of the Newark Development Group.

He is the past board president of the Friends of the Newark Free Library, and also served on the board of directors for the Newark Arts Alliance. Currently he serves on the boards of directors of the Downtown Newark Partnership and the Delaware Theatre Company and is the 2011 chairman of the Delaware Restaurant Association.

German frequently hosts fundraising dinners for organizations such as the Newark Day Nursery, the Newark Arts Alliance, the Newark Symphony Orchestra, the Newark Morning Rotary's Shoes that Fit Initiative, the American Cancer Society, the Boys and Girls Club of Delaware, Girl Scouts of America, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Kids with Confidence, Pike Creek Running Club and the Delaware Rugby Foundation.

In addition, he has organized the first annual Waffle Cone 10-Miler, which benefits the Newark Empowerment Center of the Friendship House.

Bob Nelson, chair of the Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management, has said the department takes special pride in the Renaissance Award, which was established by his predecessor, Fred DeMicco, as a way to honor someone who exemplifies community service in the city of Newark.

The names of the winners are prominently displayed on a plaque in the HRIM office to serve as examples for students in the department.

The award dinner raises money to support an HRIM student who works on projects to benefit the community at the city of Newark's Office of Planning and Development.

“What makes the Renaissance Award special is that it recognizes an individual's efforts to improve the quality of life in Newark, while putting a student in a position to do the same,” Nelson said.

Photo by Kathy Atkinson