[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 16 (Wednesday, February 23, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                     TRIBUTE TO MARY WOODARD LASKER

   Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a national 
treasure who passed away on Monday night, Mrs. Mary Woodard Lasker. All 
of us who knew and loved Mary Lasker for many years were greatly 
saddened by the news yesterday of her death on Monday night.
  History tells us that on the day that John F. Kennedy died, a tailor 
in New York City put a sign on the door that read ``Closed due to a 
death in the family.''
  Mr. President, that is how every American who cares about saving 
lives through medical research feels today. We have had a death in the 
family. And that is what makes it so difficult.
  Although most people do not know Mary Lasker, her tireless and 
talented promotion of medical research has saved and improved the lives 
of many children, husbands, wives, and parents of so many millions who 
never met Mary and who now, of course, will never have that great 
opportunity.
  Right up to her death in Greenwich, CT, at the age of 93, Mary Lasker 
was a leading national force in the medical research community. Along 
with her husband, the late Dr. Albert Lasker, she created the Mary 
Lasker Foundation in 1942, a potent and active promoter of private-
sector research. Every year, the Albert Lasker Medical Research Awards 
have recognized the world's most outstanding and groundbreaking medical 
researchers. No less than 51 of these scientists have subsequently gone 
on to receive the Nobel Prize.
  In the 1940's, Mrs. Lasker initiated the research program of the 
American Cancer Society.
  Thanks to Mary Lasker, we have the National Institutes of Health, the 
world's preeminent health research institute. She is truly the mother 
of the National Institutes of Health.
  In 1969, President Lyndon Johnson presented her with the Medal of 
Freedom, the Nation's highest medal of honor for a private citizen. In 
1987, the Senate and the House of Representatives authorized President 
Bush to strike a special gold medal in her honor in recognition of her 
humanitarian contributions in the area of medical research and 
education, urban beautification, and the fine arts.
  Dr. Jonas Salk, the man who saved millions of lives with the 
discovery of the polio vaccine, once said, ``When I think of Mary 
Lasker, I think of a matchmaker between science and society.''
  Business Week magazine called her ``the Fairy Godmother of medical 
research.''
  In 1984, a center at the NIH was named in her honor, the Mary Woodard 
Lasker Center for Health Research and Education.
  Mr. President, Mary Lasker's half century of crusading, which started 
with the Presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, the President who brought us 
Social Security and who signed into law the bill that created the 
National Institutes of Health, culminated with her last public 
appearance under the Presidency of Bill Clinton, who is going to help 
bring health security to all Americans. Her last public appearance was 
in October in New York City at the 1993 Albert Lasker Awards luncheon. 
The keynote address at that luncheon was given by First Lady Hillary 
Clinton. I suppose you could say that Mary Lasker was the last great 
lobbyist for medical research.
  As we all know, the word ``lobbyist'' is sometimes considered a dirty 
word. It wasn't a dirty word to Mary Lasker. She once called herself a 
``self-employed health lobbyist.''
  Here is a glimpse into why she chose that profession--and a glimpse 
into why she made a difference.
  Upon dedicating the Mary Woodard Lasker Center for Medicaid Research 
and Health Education at the NIH in 1984, Mrs. Lasker said:

       The reason I am so dedicated to medical research and have 
     lobbied so many Congressmen and Senators is that when I was 
     very young, I was sick a great deal and had severe infections 
     of the ears, causing the most agonizing pain.
       In those days polio was still rampant and there were no 
     antibiotics and no polio vaccines. These discoveries obviated 
     the terrible pain and saved tens of thousands of lives. When 
     I was about 10 years old I resolved that I would try to do 
     something when I grew up for medical research, and this 
     center named for me symbolizes this early resolve.

  Mr. President, perhaps we can now appreciate the full extent of that 
resolve. Ninety-three years worth of resolve, to be exact. And although 
those years may be easy enough for Mary Lasker's friends to count, we 
will never be able to count the number of strangers' lives that were 
saved by her rock-solid resolve, and her unwavering courage, and her 
unflagging commitment to the lives and health of others.
  Finally, Mr. President, no one has to guess how Mary Lasker would 
like us to honor her legacy. To quote just once more from her 
dedication of the NIH center that bears her name:

       It is the duty of everyone who receives funding from the 
     NIH to work for and fulfill the goal of medical treatment, 
     cure and prevention and to give this country and the world 
     the benefit of every penny spent. Now, we must all go and 
     continue our work.

  We can honor her wishes, Mr. President, by continuing to build on the 
foundation for health research that she laid down. To provide a solid 
cornerstone for that foundation, Senator Mark Hatfield and I are 
proposing a bipartisan plan for ensuring that Mary Lasker's legacy can 
continue.
  We will be proposing a fund for health research, which I believe must 
be a part of whatever health care reform bill that passes this body.
  We can talk all we want about how we will change the health payment 
structure, how these plans will be set up, and what the role of the 
private sector will be. But there is one element that must be included, 
and that is a fund for health research so we can build on what we have 
done in the past and move forward toward finding more cures and 
treatments for the ills that beset mankind.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. FEINGOLD addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair will indicate to the Senator from 
Wisconsin that morning business is about to conclude and that he should 
ask unanimous consent to extend it.

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