Open House and Celebration - Celebration, Day Three

Several key players in the creation of the Zuckerman Research Center, the Gerstner Sloan-Kettering Graduate School, and the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program (HOPP) celebrate the three events. (From left) Harold Varmus, Marilyn Taylor, Douglas Warner, HOPP Chair Charles Sawyers, and Louis Gerstner.

"This is a wonderful day for Memorial Sloan-Kettering," said Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center President Harold Varmus in his introductory remarks. "In talking to one of my colleagues I was given an interesting perspective on what the Zuckerman Research Center means to our research community. He said, 'This extraordinary building makes everything seem possible.'" Referring to the "inspired philanthropy" of many Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center supporters, including members of the Boards of Overseers and Managers, Dr. Varmus singled out "the keystone gift Mort Zuckerman has provided and his vision of what can happen here" as underlying "so much of the inspiration we all feel."

Acknowledging another reason for celebration, Dr. Varmus thanked the Vice Chairman of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's Board, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., remarking, "We're particularly indebted to him for helping to establish the Gerstner Sloan-Kettering Graduate School."

	Sloan-Kettering Institute Director and Faculty Member Thomas Kelly (left) with Board member Donald Marron

Other key players in the Zuckerman Research Center's creation were recognized by Dr. Varmus, among them Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Edward J. Mahoney, Vice President, Facilities Management; Stephen A. Egan, Director of Laboratory Operations; and George Mejias, Director of Design and Construction; the building's architects and designers Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership; Turner Construction Company; Sloan-Kettering Institute Director Thomas J. Kelly; Sloan-Kettering Institute Director, Administration, Linda Stevenson; and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Board member and New York real estate developer Jack Rudin, who, remarked Dr. Varmus, "held a coffee klatch every Wednesday to make sure things were moving along."

A number of programs will be housed in the Zuckerman Research Center, and Dr. Varmus expressed gratitude to those whose gifts helped to establish several of them: Dorothy and Jack Byrne for the Byrne Family Center for Cancer Research; Alice and William Goodwin, Jr., for Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Experimental Therapeutics Center; and Leonard and Claire Tow, Arnold and Arlene Goldstein, and The Geoffrey Beene Estate for "creating the financial underpinnings that will help to secure the success of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program."

Harold Varmus with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Chairman of the Boards Douglas Warner

Finally, he extended his appreciation to Board member David H. Koch for his support of the Center's initiatives in the immunologic control of cancer.

Other speakers included the building's chief architect, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP partner-in-charge for urban design and planning Marilyn Taylor, HOPP Chair Charles L. Sawyers, Chairman of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Boards Douglas A. Warner III, and Mr. Gerstner.

Tours of the facility were offered during the afternoon-long celebration and a buffet luncheon was served.