History of the Cancer Research Foundation

Sons of immigrant parents, Maurice and Nathan Goldblatt had worked side by side building the Goldblatt empire of Chicago retail stores. When Nathan was diagnosed with cancer, and died in 1944, Maurice withdrew from the family business, devoting the remainder of his life to raising funds for medical research, primarily cancer.

Maurice Goldblatt became a legend, prowling the halls of Chicago's medical centers, poking into research laboratories and asking questions: "What are you working on?" "Show me." "Where did you get that idea?" "Do you need any money?" Excited about finding cures, "The Millionaire Beggar" - a newspaper nicknamed him - collected millions of dollars for cancer research from corporations, and dollars and cents from men and women everywhere in Chicago.

Maurice's instincts, vision and expert medical counsel led him to fund senior scientists who, then as now, were short of research funds. The Foundation continues to support senior cancer researchers through its Fletcher Scholars program, a biennial award.

Because he felt so strongly about cancer research continuing, Maurice began channeling a large part of Cancer Research Foundation funds to the young scientists, the link in research that must be supported for discoveries to continue. Foundation Young Investigator Awards, annual seed grants, fund post-M.D., Ph.D. men and women at the beginning of their research careers, when funding is the most difficult to obtain.

In 1997, the Foundation established the Bernice Goldblatt Fellowship, a gift to the University of Chicago to provide annual income to support a first year graduate student in the Biological Sciences Division who is a candidate for a Ph.D. to be issued by the Committee on Cancer Biology.

Students studying cancer, young scientists searching for new directions, senior scientists poised on the brink of discovery - providing the resources to make this cancer research possible is the reason the Cancer Research Foundation exists.