Chapter 14: The George H.W. Bush Support MD Anderson Fundraising

Chapter 14: The George H.W. Bush Support MD Anderson Fundraising

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Description

In this Chapter Dr. Mendelsohn explains the important role of former president George H.W. Bush and his wife, Laura Bush in MD Anderson’s fundraising efforts. He begins by explaining that the Bushes were interested in cancer because they had a child who died of leukemia. Dr. Mendelsohn’s wife, Anne, came up with the idea to ask the Bushes to use MD Anderson as a setting to celebrate George Bush’s seventy-fifth birthday for an awareness and fundraising event. He describes the impact of that large event –raising money and awareness of MD Anderson. Dr. Mendelsohn was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal and other periodicals and the institution was ranked #1. He then explains how George Bush was asked to be on the Board of Visitors, and Dr. Mendelsohn offers an anecdote about his skill at running meetings.

Identifier

MendelsohnJ_02_20120928_C14

Publication Date

9-28-2012

City

Houston, Texas

Topics Covered

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - Building the Institution The Administrator Portraits Philanthropy, Fundraising, Donations, Volunteers MD Anderson History Institutional Processes Beyond the Institution The Business of MD Anderson The MD Anderson Brand, Reputation Building/Transforming the Institution Professional Practice The Professional at Work

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Disciplines

History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Oncology | Oral History

Transcript

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

Why was establishing the relationship with the Bushes so important?

John Mendelsohn, MD:

That was very exciting. I think my wife was the main source of the idea, although other people also brought it up. Some of our board members were very good friends of the Bush’s. President Bush is an incredible man, and he and Barbara had a child that died of leukemia. She was treated, actually, at Sloan-Kettering. I’ll never forget the time we invited him to give a commencement speech here, and he was talking about the advances in science during his lifetime. He said, “We had a daughter with leukemia,” and he actually stopped and choked up and was tearing. He got control of himself and finished his sentence. “If she had gotten that today, she’d be alive.” Oh, it was as poignant as you can get. President Bush was on our Board of Visitors. That was already established. He played golf with some of the people and was social.

I think it was my wife’s idea. She said, “Well, he’s got a big birthday coming up. Why don’t we see if we can celebrate his birthday and turn it into raising awareness and funding for MD Anderson?” The Development Office came back and said, “Yes. He’s having a 75th birthday in a year and a half.” The wheels got turning. One of the members of our Board of Visitors was Bob Mosbacher, who had been chairman of the Board of Visitors and who had actually gotten a little disaffected with MD Anderson. He had been President Bush’s campaign manager. I loved this man, and both Anne and I became very dear friends of his. We rekindled his interest in MD Anderson, aside from the fact that we just enjoyed being together.

Pretty soon, we got the idea in front of President Bush and Barbara: would they celebrate the birthday in honor of MD Anderson and Bob Mosbacher would head this event. It was going to occur at the baseball stadium, and pretty soon it was very clear there were ground rules. President Bush did not want to ask anyone for money, but he would be willing to be the honoree at an event where his birthday was being celebrated by MD Anderson. Pete Conway got involved, and Ernie Cockrell and a lot of business leaders in this community joined with Bob Mosbacher, and we had a fabulous event and raised $10 million and celebrated. In this process, Bob Onstead, who was one of the chairs of our Board of Visitors, and I were talking; maybe the idea came from someone else, too. Could we entice President Bush to become chairman of our Board of Visitors? It was Bob that approached himt. We had to pick the right person. I was invited to come out and talk with the President, and we met and talked a couple of times, and the answer came back, Yes. That was incredible. I’ll never forget the first meeting of the Board of Visitors he ran. He’s a master at running meetings. He would draw out opinions and build consensus, and he’d make decisions, and we’d move on, and it just flowed beautifully. I’ve watched another person do that; Benno Schmidt who was chairman of the Board of Regents of Sloan-Kettering when I was there. He is a Texan, UT Austin law professor who Jock Whitney recruited to New York to start the first venture capital firm, and I watched how he handled the board. He and George Bush are the 2 best. After the meeting, President Bush turned to me and said, “You know, John, that’s the first meeting like this I’ve run since a cabinet meeting, and it was fun.” Just having him there helped us attract very distinguished board members from all over the United States as well as contributors from all over the country and around the world. It helped fulfill this idea that I wanted to pursue when I came, that MD Anderson wouldn’t just be a great place in Texas, but everywhere in the world it would be known and respected. President Bush had an important role just by his presence and people knowing that he was committed. When he got up at various charity events, he said, “I love MD Anderson. I’m so proud to be on its board.” He’s a very modest man, and that hits homeruns.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

Also having that brush with a serious disease as part of his history means that he speaks from the heart.

John Mendelsohn, MD:

He and Barbara both. He spent many, many hours here. You’re the vice-chairman, and then you’re the chairman elect, and then you’re the chairman. This is “harder” than being president of the country according to President Bush. The presidency is a 4-year deal. Being chairman of our board is a six-year deal.

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Open

Chapter 14: The George H.W. Bush Support MD Anderson Fundraising

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