Robert Kennedy Jr. and wife Mary |
FOOD ALLERGY INITIATIVE
Supporters
See Victory
Ahead
Over Scourge
Story and Photos by Tim Boxer
 O
surprise that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. served as dinner chair at
last fall’s Food Allergy Ball at The Plaza in New York. He credits
the Food Allergy Initiative for coming to the aid of his son Connor,
7. The organization is dedicated to research and treatment of food
allergies.
“Connor
is allergic to nuts, soy and shellfish,” Kennedy said. “In his
first three years he had 26 emergency room visits and six
hospitalizations. He vomited every single day. But he never let
those allergies slow him down. As a result he has a keen sense of
compassion and empathy for others.”
FAI,
headed by Sharyn Mann and Todd Slotkin, put Kennedy in
touch with a doctor in Baltimore, Hugh Sampson, who
saved Connor’s life. Sampson is now director of the Jaffe
Institute of Food Allergy at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New
York.
Sirio
Maccioni
of Le Cirque 2000 presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to fellow
restaurateur Drew Nieporent of Nobu and Tribeca Grill.
“Three
months ago I weight 335 pounds,” he declared. “I’ve slimmed
down to 210.”
People
ask how did he do it and he answers, “It’s not what you eat,
it’s what you don’t eat.”
Ronald
O. Perelman,
chairman/CEO of MacAndrews and Forbes Holdings Inc., introduced the
guest of honor, his colleague Howard Gittis.
Leba and Neil Sedaka |
Gittis,
vice chairman and chief administrative officer at MacAndrews and
Forbes, revealed that his grandson Miles is also afflicted with a
food allergy.
“We
will stay committed,” he vowed. “We have to dedicate ourselves
to rid the world of this scourge. You are here for the struggle –
stick around for the victory ahead.”
Board
chairman Todd Slotkin noted that there are more than seven million
sufferers, most of whom are children.
The
600 guests at the dinner, which included Harry Belafonte, Neil
Sedaka and wife Luba, and Dan Akroyd and wife Donna
Dixon, raised $2.1 million towards the effort to find “a
life-saving vaccine to prevent food allergies by 2010,” Slotkin
announced.
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