Sea Cliff woman earns knighthood for French-American philanthropy that helped rebuild Notre Dame cathedral

Sea Cliff resident Victoria Bjorklund was made a Knight of the Légion d’Honneur Wednesday night at the headquarters of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Bjorklund is a founding member of Princeton University’s first women’s basketball team, an erstwhile scholar of the Anglo-Norman dialect spoken by Viking invaders in Norman France, co-founder of Doctors Without Borders USA and founder of the Tax Exempt Organizations Group at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, the white-shoe New York City law firm.

But in her day job as a lawyer she facilitated decades of American philanthropy across the world and did the legal legwork to create the American nonprofit Friends of Fondation De France, which nominated her for knighthood. Through its platforms, Americans have contributed to the Louvre and the rebuilding of the Notre Dame cathedral after a devastating 2019 fire.

Ted Hart, a consultant and author who formerly led CAF America, a global grantmaking organization, said in a phone interview that Bjorklund "helped make sense of the tax code and make it possible for people to legally, with tax compliance, make charitable contributions internationally and still maintain their U.S. tax deduction." Her work had probably facilitated billions of dollars in contributions, he said.

"I’m thrilled," to receive France's highest honor, Bjorklund said Wednesday morning in an interview, still in Sea Cliff, after her husband, Hank, the former Jets running back, handed her the phone. "Lawyers usually work on the plumbing behind the scenes. ... Our whole goal is to keep your charity out of litigation."

They were leaving several hours to reach the embassy outpost at the former Payne Whitney mansion, she said. "The knighting must be done on French soil. Therefore if you're doing it in the U.S., it must be done at the embassy or consulate."

By late afternoon the mansion in Manhattan grew dense with lawyers, philanthropists and basketball coaches drinking Evian and Pommery Champagne. In his remarks, the consul general of France in New York City, Cédrik Fouriscot, navigated the collapse of the French government with the skill of a professional diplomat before moving quickly to the good works of Fondation and Bjorklund, "a shining example of Franco-American friendship."

Francis Charhon, the former director general of the Fondation De France, did the knighting. "By virtue of the power vested in me, I appoint you knight of the Order of the Legion," he said. The French don’t do swords and kneeling; he merely pinned the medal on the shoulder of Bjorklund’s black gown and bestowed upon her three alternate cheek kisses.

"I consider tonight to be one of the greatest nights of my life," Bjorklund said, and summed up the experiences that had brought her to this moment. In brief: a French pen pal in public school in Manhasset, French taught by refugee White Russian countesses at Friends Academy in Glen Cove, later at university, poems about martyred French saints and 12th century romances: "knights and castles, Lancelot, Percival, the Holy Grail. ... You have conjured my studies of medieval knights into the reality of this actual knighthood. I am so grateful for this."