MD Anderson to honor former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III during A Conversation With a Living Legend® at the Kennedy Center

MD Anderson News Release November 07, 2013

Program to include Tom Brokaw, Bob Schieffer, the Honorable Henry Kissinger, David Rubenstein

MD Anderson News Release 11/07/13

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III and his career of public service will be the focus of A Conversation With a Living Legend® benefiting The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Washington, D.C., Nov. 12 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

MD Anderson’s mission is to eradicate cancer, a disease that knows no boundaries – geographic, social, economic, religious or racial. Leaders from the D.C. area, across the nation and internationally have lent their names to support this mission and to honor Sec. Baker.

Reflecting the event’s bipartisan support, all former U.S. presidents and first ladies serve as honorary chairs, and honorary co-chairs include former secretaries of state, former secretaries of treasury and former White House chiefs of staff (see list below).

NBC News special correspondent Tom Brokaw will serve as master of ceremonies of the event, which has raised approximately $4.4 million to date for MD Anderson’s Moon Shots Program, a comprehensive assault on cancer inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 speech referencing the nation’s goal to place a man on the moon. The program will include remarks by David Rubenstein, chairman of the Kennedy Center, and an introduction of Sec. Baker by the Honorable Henry A. Kissinger. Bob Schieffer, CBS chief news correspondent and “Face the Nation” moderator, will lead an onstage interview with Sec. Baker before the invitation-only gathering.

Following the “conversation,” Ronald DePinho, M.D., president of MD Anderson, will present Sec. Baker the Making Cancer History® Award, given to people who demonstrate the institution’s core values of caring, integrity and discovery. Laura Bush, former President George W. Bush, Katie Couric, Sam Donaldson, Sherry Lansing, T. Boone Pickens, Bob Schieffer and Jeff Wigbels are past recipients.

Honorary chairs:

  • The Honorable and Mrs. George H.W. Bush
  • The Honorable and Mrs. George W. Bush
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Jimmy Carter
  • The Honorable William J. Clinton and the Honorable Hillary R. Clinton
  • Mrs. Ronald Reagan

General chairs:

  • Mr. and Mrs. Harry H. Cullen
  • Mr. Robert Day
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Donald L. Evans
  • Ms. Lyda Hill
  • Mr. and Mrs. Harry J. Longwell
  • Mr. and Mrs. L. Lowry Mays
  • Mr. and Mrs. Red McCombs
  • Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Moncrief
  • Mr. and Mrs. David M. Rubenstein

General co-chairs:

  • Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Gibbens
  • Mr. and Mrs. Tom Johnson

Honorary co-chairs:
Former Secretaries of State

  • The Honorable Madeleine K. Albright
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Henry A. Kissinger
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Colin L. Powell
  • The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
  • The Honorable and Mrs. George P. Shultz

Former Secretaries of the Treasury

  • The Honorable and Mrs. Nicholas F. Brady
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Paul H. O’Neill
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Henry M. Paulson, Jr.
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Robert E. Rubin
  • The Honorable and Mrs. John W. Snow
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Lawrence H. Summers

Former White House Chiefs of Staff

  • The Honorable Howard H. Baker, Jr. and The Honorable Nancy Kassebaum Baker
  • The Honorable Joshua B. Bolten
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Andrew H. Card, Jr.
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Kenneth M. Duberstein
  • The Honorable Rahm I. Emanuel and Ms. Amy Rule
  • The Honorable and Mrs. James R. Jones
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Thomas F. McLarty, III
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Leon E. Panetta
  • The Honorable and Mrs. John D. Podesta
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Samuel K. Skinner
  • The Honorable and Mrs. John H. Sununu

Honorary vice-chair:

  • The Honorable Robert S. Strauss

Co-chairs:

  • Mr. and Mrs. Douglas B. Baker
  • Mr. and Mrs. James A. Baker, IV
  • The Honorable Ben Barnes
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Paul E. Begala
  • Mr. and Mrs. David G. Bradley
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Peter R. Coneway
  • Mr. and Mrs. Mark J. Epley
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Bruce S. Gelb
  • The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison and The Honorable Ray Hutchison
  • Ms. Luci Baines Johnson and Mr. Ian J. Turpin
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Robert M. Kimmitt
  • Mr. and Mrs. Melvyn N. Klein
  • The Honorable and Mrs. James C. Langdon, Jr.
  • Mr. and Mrs. Pierre Lapeyre, Jr.
  • Ms. Nancy B. Loeffler
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Frederic V. Malek
  • The Honorable Robert A. Mosbacher, Jr.
  • Mr. and Mrs. James J. Mulva
  • The Honorable and Mrs. Samuel A. Nunn, Jr.
  • Mr. and Mrs. A. R. “Tony” Sanchez, Jr.
  • The Honorable and Mrs. J. Thomas Schieffer
  • Mr. and Mrs. Walter J. Smith
  • The Honorable and Mrs. William R. Timken, Jr.
  • Mr. and Mrs. Eric S. Zorn