Joan and Sandy Weill invite Rambam friends to their home for an evening devoted to Rambam’s achievements in medicine, research, collaboration and peace.
NEW YORK – “When you travel to developing countries, you see people dying that really could be saved. They don’t have access to lifesaving technology (and) they don’t have the doctors,” said Sanford I. Weill, Chairman Emeritus of Citigroup Inc., elucidating the expansive social awareness that motivates his philanthropy.
Added Joan (Mrs. Sanford Weill), “I tend to hear something about a child or an elderly person in need of medical attention and I want to do something, but to be effective, you need to focus your energy – Sandy taught me this. We talk about how we can make a difference. You have to have a passion, and we really give it our all.”
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| From Left to Right -AFORAM President Adam Emmerich, Director General of Rambam Prof. Rafael Beyar, hosts Sanford and Joan Weill, and AFORAM Executive Vice President Yair Kagan. Mrs. Weill holds a 1st century CE Roman unguentarium (cosmetic flask) of light amber glass, a housewarming gift to the couple from Rambam. RHCC © |
Indeed they do. Weill Cornell Medical College and Graduate School of Medical Sciences, whose Board of Overseers is chaired by Mr. Weill, has borne the couple’s name since 1998 in recognition of their endowment gift. They are also generous patrons of the arts.
On March 3rd, Mr. and Mrs. Weill opened their home to members of the American Friends of Rambam Medical Center (AFORAM). The occasion was honored by the presence of cardiologist Prof. Rafael Beyar, Director General of Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, Israel.
An ardent discussion ensued among hosts and guests concerning medicine’s promising role as a bridge for achieving a peaceful Middle East. In gracious remarks to the assembled company, Mr. Weill recalled that almost exactly two years prior, in February 2008, he and cardiologist Dr. Antonio Gotto. Provost for Medical Affairs and Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College had stopped at Rambam on their way to Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (est. 2001). Mr. Weill told his listeners how impressed he had been by the spirit of harmonious Arab-Jewish relations and the exemplary practice of ethnic and religious tolerance prevailing at Rambam and in Haifa.
Among the guests at the event were AFORAM President Adam Emmerich, Senior Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, AFORAM Executive Vice President Yair Kagan, and Board Members Harold Magid of New York, Relly Dibner and her husband Brent of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and Bostonians Aaron Spencer and his wife Irma (he is Director and Chairman Emeritus of UNO Chicago Grill, and the couple has funded the academic educations of hundreds of nurses at Rambam). Board Member Alan Mendelson, Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP, flew in from Northern California for the event. Economist and financial analyst Abby Joseph Cohen of the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also attended.
The evening included an invitation from Prof. Beyar to the Rambam Summit – “Where Medicine, Technology & Humanity Intertwine” slated for June 10th at Rambam. “The event will provide an insider’s look at Haifa and the North, a cradle of ancient Jewish and modern Israeli civilization,” he promised his listeners, “and will be followed by a full day of outstanding lectures by international medical leaders and by a Gala Dinner.”