Conversation With a Living Legend® in Dallas raises $730,000 for MD Anderson Cancer Center

Exercise your brain. Socialize. Avoid inactivity. Sleep at least seven hours a night. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.

Kenneth H. Cooper, M.D., shared these and other nuggets of healthful advice with MD Anderson supporters from the Dallas-Fort Worth area at the Sept. 28 A Conversation With a Living Legend® at the Hilton Anatole. The 85-year-old "father of aerobics" and pioneer in preventive medicine was engaged and energetic throughout an onstage interview led by the Honorable Jeanne Phillips, senior vice president for Corporate Affairs and International Relations for Hunt Consolidated Inc. and president of Hunt Global partnerships. 

Under the direction of event chairs Beverly and Robert Nichols, the luncheon raised more than $730,000 for MD Anderson's Moon Shots Program™. Presenting sponsors were Andrews Distributing and Lyda Hill. 

In addition to the "conversation," guests were treated to a video greeting from Cooper's longtime friend, veteran broadcast journalist Tom Brokaw, and compelling remarks by MD Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors member Tom Rushing, of Houston, a pancreatic cancer survivor who thanked the honoree and his colleagues at The Cooper Clinic for the early detection that led to his diagnosis eight years ago. 

In 1968, Cooper coined the word "aerobics," prompting an internation physical fitness movement. He is chairman of seven health and wellness companies and The Cooper Institute, a research and education nonprofit, with a second aerobics center at Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas.

Since the event originated in 1990, A Conversation With a Living Legend® in North Texas has raised more than $16.8 million for MD Anderson. Including the Dallas-Fort Worth area funds raised, this successful format has generated more than $33.8 million through events in Washington, D.C.; Las Vegas, Nevada; Atlanta, Georgia; Houston; and San Antonio.