Queen Sofia presented Esther Koplowitz with the Golden Cross of the Civil Order of Social Solidarity in a ceremony on 23 January in the Zarzuela Palace. The ceremony was attended by the Minister for Employment and Social Affairs, Jesús Caldera, and the Secretary of State for Social Services, Amparo Valcáarcel, among other authorities. Esther Koplowitz was accompanied by members of her family and by the director of the Royal History Academy, Gonzalo Anes.

The Civil Order of Social Solidarity is granted in recognition of persons who have made special efforts in promoting or developing activities and services related to social action to the benefit of social well-being. Granted by the Ministry of Employment, the honour recognises the work by Esther Koplowitz for the least favoured in society, especially the aged and mentally handicapped without resources.

The Esther Koplowitz Foundation, a charity created in the early 1990s, is financed solely by its chairman, and concentrates on building and equipping homes for the aged without resources and the mentally handicapped. Once equipped, they are donated to government authorities.

Such is the case with the residences for the aged built by the Esther Koplowitz Foundation in Collado Villalba (Madrid) and Barcelona and the residence for the mentally handicapped built and donated to Valencia City Council. Currently, the Esther Koplowitz Foundation is promoting the development of a residence for the aged without resources in Valladolid and one for the adult mentally handicapped in Valencia.

Another outstanding area of the Foundation's action is to promote medical research and equipment, such as the recent donation of the Da Vinci robot - one of only two in Spain - to the San Carlos Hospital in Madrid, placing the prestigious hospital on the leading edge of robotic surgery.

The next few months will see the laying of the foundation stone in the Esther Koplowitz Biomedical Research Centre (CIBEK) in Barcelona. This will house nearly 400 researchers and will be one of Europe's most important biomedical research donations (€15 million). It is scheduled to become operational in 2010.

With all these projects, the Esther Koplowitz Foundation has donated €82 million to help the least fortunate in society and to scientific development in Spain.

In recognition of her work in these areas, the Cabinet agreed in June 2001 to award Esther Koplowitz the Great Cross of Civil Merit for her promotion of social work. Together with this distinction, Esther Koplowitz has been recognised for her work with other honours such as the Silver Cross of the Order of Merit of the Guardia Civil, the Shield of the City of Barcelona, the Freedom of the City of Valencia and the Gold Medal of the Royal History Academy for her work of cultural promotion within and beyond FCC. At the start of 2007, the Adecco Foundation awarded the Esther Koplowitz Foundation with the annual award in recognition of its work for the least favoured social groups.

In September last year, Esther Koplowitz received the Business Leader of the Year award from the Spanish Chamber of Trade in the USA for her work at the head of FCC and for her social work in favour of the most needy. Other associations and organisations helped by the Foundation include the Alzheimer project of the Queen Sofia Foundation, Caritas, Horizontes Abiertos, Mensajeros de la Paz, Huérfanos de la Policía, Huérfanos de la Guardia Civil and Ayuda a las Víctimas del Terrorismo.