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Summer 2013 : A generational thing

A generational thing

Scurlock Foundation continues tradition of making a difference

BY Miriam Smith

From left: Eddy S. Blanton, Elizabeth Blanton Wareing and Jack S. Blanton Jr.

A third generation of Blantons has taken over the leadership of the Scurlock Foundation, and they’re leaving a legacy that would make their parents and grandparents proud.

The siblings, Elizabeth Blanton Wareing, Jack S. Blanton Jr. and Eddy S. Blanton Sr., recently established the Laura Lee Blanton Ovarian Cancer Endowed Fund in honor of their mother, who died in 1999 after battling ovarian cancer for three years. The $410,000 fund will support the prevention, detection and treatment of ovarian cancer at MD Anderson’s Blanton-Davis Ovarian Cancer Research Program, also named after Laura Lee Scurlock Blanton.

“Helping this incredible institution that treated my mother is a primary focus for our family,” says Eddy Blanton, director of the Scurlock Foundation and grandson of the foundation’s founder, Eddy C. Scurlock. “We’re blessed to pay tribute to our mother in a profound and lasting way, and I’m confident my grandfather would be proud of the giving and caring legacy in his daughter’s honor.”

Anil Sood, M.D., director of the Blanton-Davis Ovarian Cancer Research Program, says this generous gift couldn’t have come at a better time.

“In this era of shrinking federal aid, the support the Blantons have provided through this endowment is essential for promoting research, prevention and new therapies for ovarian cancer,” Sood says.

Another part of the Blantons’ lasting legacy is Sprint for Life. Laura Lee Blanton brainstormed the idea for the fundraising walk/run with her doctor while in remission in 1998. For the past 16 years, Blanton’s husband and children have kept the tradition alive, raising $4 million for ovarian cancer research at MD Anderson.

"Helping this incredible institution that treated my mother is a primary focus for our family. We're blessed to pay tribute to our mother in a profound and lasting way, and I'm confident my grandfather would be proud of the giving and caring legacy in his daughter's honor."

Eddy Blanton

director, Scurlock Foundation

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