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ISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FUND
Honoring Scientists In America
Helps Fund Cure For Cancer
Story and Photos by Tim Boxer
DON’T
understand it,” said Ben Brafman, the celebrated powerhouse
attorney. “I come to a kosher dinner for Israel Cancer Research
Fund (ICRF) and the highest bid in the silent auction is for the
Soprano Family Cook Book.”
Between
the laughs and the dancing, the organization’s Tower of Hope Ball
at the Pierre Hotel last Sunday earned big bucks for cancer research
in Israel.
Brooklyn’s
Gloria and Harvey Kaylie announced a million-dollar
gift for scientists in Israel to search for a cure for the scourge.
In
introducing Kaylie – who’s in the electronics business with
dealings with the Defense Department – Brafman, the master of
ceremonies, said he was told nothing about the man. Everything’s a
secret.
“In
my business,” the criminal defense lawyer noted, “that means
you’re in organized crime.”
Another
high profile contribution came from Kenneth Goodman, head of
Forest Laboratories. Even though his pharmaceutical company produced
all kinds of pills, there was nothing they had that could help his
wife Barbara, who suffered from pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Yashar
Hirshaut, ICRF president and clinical associate professor of
medicine at Weill-Cornell Medical College-New York Hospital, led the
effort by doctors in New York and Paris to save her life.
Goodman
said he was quite impressed by Hirshaut’s knowledge, commitment
and passion. “We were not impressed by the endless waiting in his
office to get to see him,” he added in jest.
Hirshaut
dedicated himself to helping Barbara fight the disease, often
visiting her at one in the morning.
Last
June Barbara lost her battle. She was 51.
Goodman
came back to Hirshaut’s office bearing a check for $700,000 to
create an endowment in his wife’s name to enable Israeli
scientists find a cure for pancreatic cancer.
At
the dinner Hirshaut honored two pioneers in clinical cancer
research. One was Dr. Arthur Sawitsky, who helped develop the
criteria for chronic lumphocytic leukemia used by physicians to plan
the treatment of this disease.
The
other honoree was “the godfather of vaccine,” Dr. Maurice
Hilleman, reputed to have created more vaccines than any other
person. His output includes vaccines for hepatitis A and B, measles,
mumps and rubella.
That
prompted my wife Nina to remember when our Gabriel
came home from nursery school with the chicken pox. She got it from
him, and so did our younger son David.
“If
he comes home from school and gives me the measles,” she declared,
“that’s it! He’s up for adoption!”
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