Board of Visitors awards highest distinction to longtime member

The MD Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors extends Life Member status to dedicated members whose service merits its highest distinction and honor. This fiscal year Wayne Gibbens of Middleburg, Virginia, joined the distinguished roster of BOV Life Members.

With the constant support of his wife, Beth, Gibbens has given generously of his time, expertise and personal funds as an MD Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors member since 1981. He has provided leadership on the Making Cancer History® Campaign cabinet as well as the board’s Executive Committee and the Governmental Relations Committee, which he has served as chair or co-chair since 2006.

A veteran of three terms in the Texas House of Representatives, Gibbens resigned his seat in 1966 to accept an appointment by Gov. John Connally to establish a liaison office for the State of Texas in Washington, D.C., where he served as director of State-Federal Relations. Gibbens also was Special Counsel to the president of the American Petroleum Institute and president of the U.S. Oil & Gas Association.

His dedication to the institution dates to 1962, when his then-fiancée, Beth Cannon, was diagnosed with cancer. The institution’s first president, R. Lee Clark, M.D., led her successful treatment. A lasting friendship evolved, instilling in the couple a passion for MD Anderson’s mission to end cancer. Gibbens has been a trusted friend and adviser to each of Clark’s successors, and his extensive organizational skills and bipartisan influence in governmental relations have proved valued assets in advancing institutional initiatives.

He and his wife have chaired or co-chaired all of MD Anderson’s A Conversation With a Living Legend® events in the nation’s capital, helping raise more than $10 million for key research and patient programs benefiting patients and their families around the world.

BOV LIFE MEMBERS

The BOV has bestowed Life Member status on 27 men and women, listed below by the year each was named.

Wayne Gibbens, 2019
Harry Longwell, 2017
The Hon. James A. Baker, III, 2015
Lyda Hill, 2015
Charles Butt, 2013
Ernest Harris (Ernie) Cockrell, 2013
L. Lowry Mays, 2007
Red McCombs, 2007
George P. Mitchell*, 2007
T. Boone Pickens*, 2007
Robert A. Mosbacher, Sr.*, 2000
Laura Lee Blanton*, 1998
W.A. “Tex” Moncrief Jr., 1998
Charles A. LeMaistre, M.D.*, 1996
Barbara Bush*, 1993
President George H.W. Bush*, 1993
Edwin L. Cox, 1991
Ben F. Love*, 1991
Ben J. Rogers*, 1991
Paul R. Haas*,1988
Margaret Batts Tobin*, 1986
Perry R. Bass*, 1984
Thomas D. Anderson*, 1982
Theodore N. Law*, 1982
Lillie A. Johnson*, 1980
Julia Jones Matthews*, 1980
Allan Shivers*, 1980
*Deceased