Spring 2002 Newsletter: Connections with Friends

The late Dr. John E. Ultmann was the founder and director of the Cancer Research Center at the University of Chicago from 1973 - 1991. Going through old papers, I was reminded of the earlier days of the Cancer Research Foundation when my father, Maurice Goldblatt, was actively fund raising. Dr. Ultmann told me the following story:

About 20 years ago, I received a phone call from a gentleman in New York. His daughter had Hodgkin’s Disease, an often fatal form of lymphoid cancer, and he wanted me to see her. I told him I would be flying to New York to attend a scientific conference, and if he could meet me at LaGuardia Airport, we could talk about what might be done for his daughter on the way into Manhattan.

I asked him how a New Yorker came to know about the University of Chicago cancer research programs and the Cancer Research Foundation. He said he was a supplier for Goldblatt’s Department Stores, and he learned about the cancer programs that Maurice helped foster and develop through his business relationship. Then he said that he never thought he would have to take cancer in such a serious and personal way, and that he was grateful to Maurice Goldblatt for referring him to me.

Maurice always seemed to be here first, paving the way for the rest of us.

When his brother, Nathan, died of cancer in 1944, Maurice made the decision to retire from a successful business and devote his enormous energies and time to mobilizing funds to advance cancer research.

Now let me put something in perspective here. I have devoted my whole career to cancer research since I entered the field in 1955 as a post-doctoral fellow at Columbia University. Maurice formally began his efforts for cancer research in 1947, at age 55.

In the late 40s and early 50s, much less was known about this dread disease and research efforts were poorly organized. Maurice had no scientific background to guide him, but he asked questions and learned all that he needed to know to make sound decisions. He then applied his business sense to the problem at hand, identifying needs, selecting competent people and orchestrating the mobilization of the resources needed to get the job done.

Maurice’s talents were recognized and he was among the first laymen named to serve on the National Cancer Advisory Council in 1950. The work that he and his colleagues did resulted in cancer research becoming a national goal. And Maurice would simply not settle for token grants to buy off the problem at hand. He was a persistent, feisty fighter, and he continued to lobby for the level of financial support that would be commensurate with the unmet needs and the magnitude of the problem.

There is a well-known prayer by the theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, which goes: Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference. This prayer did not apply to Maurice. The Lord did not grant him the serenity to accept that things could not be changed, but gave him the courage of his convictions, and the wisdom to know which people could help him make a difference.

In 1973, the National Cancer Act was passed. The Act called for setting up a series of National Cancer Research Centers. Because of the track record the University of Chicago had developed in cancer research, stimulated in part through private support provided by the Cancer Research Foundation, we became one the first federally designated cancer research centers in the country.

My mother, Bernice Goldblatt, my brother, Stanford and I continue the work that Maurice Goldblatt began so long ago. We are very fortunate to have a board of dedicated trustees. Because layers of scientific work have been done by forward-thinking scientists of the time, men and women who were provided with the resources they needed to pursue new ideas, we are at a productive time in the development of newer and better treatments and earlier discoveries of cells that are misbehaving.

In this newsletter, read about a very early discovery made by Dr. Janet Rowley which has directly led to a new superstar cancer treatment.

Read about the new young scientists we are funding this year, cancer scientists who will make discoveries in the years to come.

Merle Goldblatt Cohen
President