Signing the Lease for the Hall of Laureates

In 2009, Ambassador Quinn and Des Moines Mayor, Frank Cownie, signed the documents giving the World Food Prize a 100 year lease on the former Des Moines Public Library building. Mrs. Janis Ruan, wife of World Food Prize Chairman John Ruan III, represented the Ruan family at the signing ceremony. With this action, the $29.8 million historic restoration project could begin, which would transform the century-old building into the Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Hall of Laureates.