“He was a friend of ours. He came back often. We’ve lost a friend,” Dayton City Commissioner Matt Joseph said.
The Dayton Peace Accords Committee, a group that promotes the legacy of the 1995 peace agreement, proposed the idea to the company that owns the Hope Hotel, said John McCance, co-chairman of the committee.
“I’ve talked to the owner, and the owner certainly supports the idea,” McCance said .
The privately owned hotel, named for the late comedian Bob Hope who for years performed shows for American troops stationed around the world, is located on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
The hotel operates on federal property under a 40-year lease with the Air Force that runs through 2028.
David Meyers, president of Visicon Inc. , which owns the hotel, said the company agreed this week to the naming , given Holbrooke’s central role in the 1995 peace negotiations.
“We are honored to have the opportunity to do it,” Meyers said.
McCance, a former Ohio president of the Air Force Association, an organization that supports the Air Force, said he is notifying Air Force officials of the naming plan.
A formal announcement is planned midday Friday during a news conference at the hotel, McCance said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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