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Black Tie International:
Foundation
Fighting Blindness
Banking on a Cure Dinner |
FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS
Banking On A Cure Dinner to Support
Sight-Saving Research
Raises Nearly $1 Million
January 19, 2011
Photos by: Joyce Brooks
joyce@blacktiemagazine.com
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Honoree, Aryeh B. Bourkoff, Vice Chairman, Global Head of
TMT UBS Investment Bank, Gordon Gund, Co-Founder & Chairman,
Foundation Fighting Blindness, and
Honoree, Stanley Chang, M.D., Chairman, Department of
Ophthalmology Columbia University Medical Center |
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Mr. and Mrs. Aryeh
Bourkoff |
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Jim Minow and Emcee Peter Alexander,
NBC News Correspondent |
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Jeremiah H. Shaw, Sr., Vice Chairman, Foundation Fighting
Blindness, Agnes Gund,
Former
Governor of New York David Paterson and Debbie Shaw |
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Lulie Gund and Stanley Chang, M.D. |
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Dinner Co-Chair, Dan Bergstein, Aryeh B. Bourkoff and Dinner
Co-Chair, Ehren Stenzler |
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Former
Governor of New York David Paterson |
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Former
Governor of New York David Paterson,
Donna Burke Tehaan and
Gordon Gund |
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William T. Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer, Foundation
Fighting Blindness,
Former
Governor of New York David Paterson, Gordon Gund, Lulie Gund
and
Jim Minow |
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NBA Commissioner David Stern and Gordon Gund |
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NBA Commissioner David Stern and Gordon and
Lulie Gund |
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Jim Minow and Peter Alexander |
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Lulie Gund and Stanley Chang, M.D. |
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Lulie Gund,
Former
Governor of New York David Paterson, and Peter Alexander |
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Meir Levy and Danny Bensusan |
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Olivia Bourkoff and Vivienne Roumani-Denn |
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Until Next Year.... |
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The Foundation
Fighting Blindness honored Aryeh B. Bourkoff,
Vice Chairman, Global Head of Telecom, Media, and Technology
Investment Banking, UBS Investment Bank; and Stanley
Chang, M.D., Chairman, Department of Ophthalmology,
Columbia University Medical Center, with Visionary Awards
at the Banking on a Cure Awards Dinner January 19 at
The Plaza. The event raised nearly $1 Million and
will benefit the Foundation Fighting Blindness, whose urgent
mission is driving the research that will provide
preventions, treatments and cures for people affected with
retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, Usher syndrome,
and the entire spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases.
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Honoree Aryeh B.
Bourkoff:
Recognized as
one of Fortune’s 40 under 40 in 2010, Bourkoff made
the rare jump from media analyst to investment banker. He
has been at the forefront of numerous innovative
arrangements involving Comcast, NBC, Charter Communications
and Sirius XM Radio, among others, shaping the way the
modern world communicates and consumes entertainment.
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Honoree Dr.
Stanley Chang:
Consistently
named as one of America’s best doctors, Dr. Chang has
developed and pioneered several revolutionary surgical
approaches to treat complicated forms of retinal detachment,
improving outcomes for patients worldwide.
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Dinner Trustee
Chair Iris Spiegel and her daughter Tali:
A Foundation
Fighting Blindness National Trustee, Iris has worked to
drive retinal research. Tali is affected with retinitis
pigmentosa, but Foundation-funded researchers in Israel have
identified her mutated gene, which opens the door for
potential gene therapy and other treatments.
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Dinner
Co-Chairs: Daniel G. Bergstein,
Foundation Fighting Blindness Board Member who has three
generations of family members affected by vision-robbing
diseases, and Ehren Stenzler, Joint Deputy Head of US
Mergers & Acquisitions and Head of Telecom, Media, and
Technology Mergers & Acquisitions at UBS.
Attendees
included: NBA Commissioner David Stern, former President and
CEO of NBC Universal Jeff Zucker and former Governor of New
York David Paterson. Also attending were Eric Zinterhofer and
wife Aerin Lauder-Zinterhofer, Foundation Fighting
Blindness’ Board of Directors Chairman Gordon Gund, and
President Emerita of The Museum of Modern Art
Agnes Gund.
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The evening
included performances by Tali Spiegel, longtime singer, and
Justin Kauflin, celebrated jazz pianist who suffers from an
eye disease, as well as comedian Jake Johannsen, currently
starring in his own Showtime comedy special. NBC News
Correspondent Peter Alexander, whose sister is affected with
Usher syndrome, will serve as emcee. |
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Since its
inception in 1971, the Foundation has raised over $400
million. Most recently, the Foundation is funding gene
therapy clinical trials treating patients affected with
Leber’s congenital amaurosis, a severe form of retinitis
pigmentosa that causes blindness or substantial vision loss
at birth. Results from the breakthrough study showed that
gene therapy has restored significant vision in children and
young adults who were previously blind. The advancement
paves the way for using gene therapy to treat a wide variety
of retinal degenerative diseases, proving that a cure is
just around the corner.
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www.FightBlindness.org |
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