[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 44 (Wednesday, April 20, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 LIERMAN TRIBUTE TO MARY WOODARD LASKER

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, at last week's gala celebration of the 
National Eye Institute's 25th anniversary, a high point of the evening 
was an eloquent tribute by Terry Lierman to the late Mary Woodard 
Lasker. Terry Lierman, president of Capitol Associates, is a tremendous 
champion of medical research--a fact that made all the more impressive 
his salute to Mary Lasker as his mentor and role model.
  Of course, Mary Lasker was well known to Members of the Senate going 
back decades. We remember her lifetime of dedication to medical 
research; her critical role in the founding of the National Cancer 
Institute; her passionate advocacy of funding for a whole range of 
programs at the National Institutes of Health. She was a remarkable 
woman whose 94 years were lived with an abundance of energy and 
commitment.
  Mr. President, Terry Lierman's remarks are not only a moving tribute, 
they capture the spirit Mary Lasker in a special way. I would like to 
share them with our colleagues, and, indeed, with the American people. 
Accordingly, I ask unanimous consent that they be reprinted in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the remarks were ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                     Tribute to Mary Woodard Lasker

                           (By Terry Lierman)

       It was Senator Warren Magnuson (my first mentor) that 
     introduced me to Mary Lasker and it was love at first sight. 
     Here was Mary who was born in Watertown, Wisconsin in 1900--I 
     was born 30 miles from there--but a little later. She went to 
     the University of Wisconsin, my alma mater. She basically 
     started the modern NIH, where my first job was, she worked 
     the halls of Congress, that's where I worked, I have followed 
     Mary unconsciously and will consciously follow her in the 
     future too--Chairman Magnuson's favorite phrase was ``just 
     tell me what time it is, not how the clock works!'' This is 
     one person, Mr. Chairman, who deserves more than just the 
     time!
       So allow me to share a few stories with you as a legend is 
     born * * *.
       It was Mary that got Senator Magnuson to sponsor, as his 
     first bill in Congress, along with Senator Pepper, something 
     starting the National Cancer Institute.
       The few minutes I have here, is like asking an NIH 
     researcher for a 1 page grant application.
       Chairman Magnuson, this clock ran beautifully for 93 years, 
     and its long overdue for someone to tell how the clock 
     worked!
       Simply, if God created mothers for children--God created 
     Mary Lasker for medical research!
       Mary, literally, up to the day of her death 4 weeks ago, 
     kept urging for more effort and faster progress--she had a 
     wonderful sense of urgency--she understood that people were 
     dying and suffering.
       Her last passion was the Harkin-Hatfield Research Fund for 
     Medical Research. It was her last call to me and she spoke in 
     a whisper, but her urgency, like always, came through--how 
     was it going; what were the chances; what could she do to 
     help; on and on, always questioning, always pushing for more.
       Mary had a wonderful way to put perfect thoughts into 
     words, ``words of wisdom according to Mary'' should be a 
     primer for all of us--one she used often was ``if you want 
     something done, give the other person the credit.''
       But lets give Mary the credit tonight:
       Credit for the 10,000 azaleas she had planted in D.C.;
       900 cherry trees around the tidal basin;
       1 million daffodils planted in Rock Creek;
       Gardens in 20 Blocks of Park Avenue New York;
       Lasker Gardens in Central Park;
       The landscaped grounds and trees at the United Nations;
       Even a flower garden at Oxford in honor of the discovery of 
     penicillin; and
       Hundreds of highway planting projects with Lady Bird 
     Johnson along our Nation's highways.
       Mary felt very strongly that beauty and color translated to 
     PMA--a positive mental attitude = good health.
       That is the easy part to identify what Mary has done, now 
     comes the life sciences--life sciences, Mary was always 
     interested in life.
       At NIH sits a gorgeous building and grounds named the 
     ``Mary Woodward Lasker Center for Health Research and 
     Education.'' When I first told her that Senators Kennedy and 
     Hatfield and Speaker O'Neill, Chairman Pepper, were doing it 
     in her honor it was one of the few times I saw her angry. 
     Angry because she said she did not deserve the credit, it was 
     the Congress that deserved the credit. It happened over her 
     protest and she was very, very proud of it--even purchased 
     pictures for the inside and worried that the outside wouldn't 
     have enough flowers.
       Go there and walk the interior gardens and you, I will 
     assure you, that you will feel the inspiration of Mary--it 
     was a convent before.
       It was Mary Lasker who got her husband Albert, who 
     controlled massive amounts of advertising on radio in the 
     early 40's to get CBS to say the then very taboo word 
     ``Cancer'' on a program called Fibber, Maggie and Molly. This 
     led to a flood of mail to a fledgling group called the 
     American Cancer Society and Mary hired people to open the 
     mail and count the checks propelling ACS nationwide. She 
     would later use a similar technique but with Eppie Lederer-
     Ann Landers to get the National Cancer Act passed over the 
     initial objections of President Nixon. Full page ads in major 
     newspapers with 4 inch bold type saying, simply: Mr. Nixon 
     You Can Cure Cancer--it worked!
       Mary's greatest dream, was a cancer vaccine. Early on, 
     while she talked, slept and pushed for a cancer vaccine, the 
     scientific community scoffed. Now, with 1 person in the 
     United States dying from cancer every 62 seconds, medical 
     research progress has brought that dream within reach, Mary 
     will be proven right yet again.
       Then the list of medical research accomplishments grew 
     rapidly--creation of the Heart, mental health and most of its 
     institutes in the 40's and 50's, 60's--there is a rare NIH 
     program without Mary's stamp on it.
       The Lasker Awards in 1948 which have been the American 
     leader in recognizing basic, clinical research and public 
     service.
       52 Lasker winners since 1948 have gone on to win Nobel 
     Prizes.
       Mary would do anything to get attention not for her awards, 
     but she saw this as a way to promote medical research--
     awards, press, politics which she viewed very positively as a 
     means of serving the needs of people.
       She was very frustrated with scientists who did not want to 
     subject themselves to politics and thought that medical 
     research funding would happen automatically because it was 
     the right thing to do. Mary would say, ``it's my money, I 
     have a right to help determine how it is spent.''
       She was a model citizen. She understood, like Alexandre de 
     Tocqueville stated, that democracy does not work unless those 
     who live in it work for it. A keen lesson for all Americans 
     who do not participate and blindly go down the trail of 
     taking democracy for granted.
       We should all know that rights are only ours if we exercise 
     and protect them.
       Mary viewed advocacy for medical research as a right of the 
     public and sought it with a passion.
       In the 60's she forced, with the intervention of President 
     Johnson, the NIH to get involved in clinical research 
     saying--
       ``What good does it do to fund medical research if we can't 
     get it used by those who need it.''
       In the 70's and 80's her passion was education, cancer 
     vaccine development and gene therapy years before it was 
     popular. In fact, it was not all roses. People, scientists, 
     often scoffed at Mary but time and again she was right.
       She would say ``go to the government for funding. You can 
     raise more there in a day than in a lifetime of trying to 
     raise money privately.''
       Mary was proud of her championing of the National Eye 
     Institute--she adored and spoke reverently about Lew 
     Wasserman and her seat on the board of Research to Prevent 
     Blindness.
       Mary had a vision that few are blessed with and would 
     probably be frustrated with those that mouth prevention today 
     but ignore the importance of research for tomorrow--she said 
     ``research is the first link in the chain of prevention.''
       Like those few people with vision, Mary's eyes were always 
     able to look farther than they could see. Mary was often 
     heard to say that ``I am opposed to heart attacks, and 
     cancer, and strokes the way I am opposed to sin.'' Her vision 
     gave her the resolve to persuade others to find the cause of 
     disease, not just treat the symptoms.
       Mary Lasker had the resources to go to the South of France 
     but elected to stay and fight the good fight.
       She stayed focused in the determination to cure and prevent 
     disease and disability.
       It was her vision, her life, her energy which will benefit 
     every person in this room before we join Mary.
       The last few years in talks with her, she was becoming 
     increasingly frustrated by the country's inability as she 
     said to ``dream'', she said there are always people who find 
     reasons not to do things and that Washington is made up of 
     ``work horses and show horses.'' Tonights honorees, down to 
     every person, (Former Rep. Frederick B. Rooney, A Edward 
     Maumenee, MD, Lew R. Wasserman and Research to Prevent 
     Blindness, National Eye Institute, Rep. William H. Natcher, 
     Rep. Louis Stokes, Rep. John E. Porter, Sen. Mark O. 
     Hatfield, Sen. Ernest F. Hollings, Sen. Tom Harkin) Mary 
     worked with, supported and was very fond of. Like tonight, 
     she was not partisan, she would help those who would help 
     others--those who would dare to dream abut making this place 
     a better one and do something about it.
       Mary's one speech that I heard in 18 years, because she 
     shunned the light stated simply--
       ``The fruits of our labors throughout the years will:
       Alleviate pain where there is suffering;
       Provide the freedom to live in health so that we can 
     fulfill our promise and quest in the pursuit of happiness and 
     provide hope where none existed before.''
       If you want to know what Mary's monument looks like--look 
     at the people around you. Deeds for people, not stones, are 
     the true monument of the great.
       Her legacy is a living vibrant message of hope to millions 
     afflicted with disease and disability.
       Her life will be judged not by her wealth or her love for 
     beauty, but by the beauty and wealth that she instilled in 
     every life she touched through medical research.
       Those of us who have met her, seen her beauty and been 
     touched by life, will revel in her memory and be driven by 
     her passion.
       The fruits of Mary Lasker's efforts and commitment to 
     improve humankind are all around us; they live in each of 
     us--they will be truly timeless. Our efforts to cure disease 
     and conquer disability will be judged by Mary in our minds 
     and hearts.
       A grateful nation owes much to Mary Woodard Lasker--a woman 
     whose mind rebelled against needless suffering and whose 
     heart responded to a worthy cause. Mary Showed us that 
     medical research is a living message that we will pass on to 
     our children--for a time that we will not see.

                          ____________________