Events quadruple success of MD Anderson fundraiser

It was a legendary effort. Business and community leaders in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio, Texas, and in Las Vegas, Nev., raised more than $1,725,000 through four A Conversation With a Living Legend® events in Fiscal Year 2012. Over the years, the popular luncheon-interview format, which originated in Dallas in 1990 and has spread as far as Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Ga., has raised more than $14 million for cancer research and patient care initiatives at MD Anderson.

In Houston, Katie Couric, flanked by chairs Sheridan and John Eddie Williams, received MD Anderson's Making Cancer History® Award in recognition of her contributions to colon cancer awareness. The award is given periodically to people who truly make a difference in the lives of others by demonstrating MD Anderson's core values of caring, integrity and discovery. Photo by Pete Baatz.

Fifth Annual A Conversation With a Living Legend® Houston

When: Nov. 1, 2011
Where: Hilton Americas-Houston
Legend: Katie Couric, broadcast journalist, best-selling author and cancer activist
Interviewer: Sanjay Gupta, M.D., CNN chief medical correspondent
Chairs: Sheridan and John Eddie Williams
Honorary chairs: Katie and Harry Cullen Jr., Rose and Harry Cullen Sr., Kathy and Jody McCord
Major sponsors: Barbara and Charles Hurwitz, Patsy and Gregory Fourticq, Aileen Gordon, Joan Schnitzer Levy and Irvin Levy, Frann Lichtenstein, Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff, FirstSouthwest Company, Sheridan and John Eddie Williams
Total raised: More than $340,000

Inaugural A Conversation With a Living Legend® Las Vegas

When: Nov. 4, 2011
Where: Encore Hotel
Legend: Franco Harris, football legend
Interviewer: Larry King, former CNN anchor
Chairs: Rosey and Ray Park
Host committee: Lovee and Bob Arum; Donna and Sheldon Cloobeck; Myra and Brian Greenspun; Parvin Modaber Jacobs, M.D.; Susan and Irwin Molasky; Elaine Newton; Elaine and Dan Park; Camille and Larry Ruvo; Jane and Marc Schorr
Major sponsors: Lovee and Bob Arum, Claude F. Kronk, A. Malachi Mixon III, The Park Foundation, Dan and Elaine Park, Piper Park and The Park Academy
Total raised: More than $280,000

Second Annual A Conversation With a Living Legend® San Antonio

When: Nov. 29, 2011
Where: Marriott Rivercenter
Legends: Cokie Roberts and Sam Donaldson, broadcast journalists
Interviewer: Tom Johnson, former CEO of CNN News Group
Chairs: Kim and Clyde Johnson IV, Paul and Clyde Johnson III
Honorary Chairs: Peggy and Lowry Mays, Charline and Red McCombs
Co-Chairs: Courtney and Brad Duphorne, Jolie and Meade Flavin, Heather and Judd Kraft, Margye and McCann Northington
Major sponsors: Jane Cheever Powell and Thomas Powell Jr.; KCI, Mays Family Foundation, McCombs Foundation
Total raised: More than $205,000

22nd Annual A Conversation With a Living Legend® Dallas/Fort Worth

When: Jan. 4, 2012
Where: Hilton Anatole, Dallas
Legend: Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group
Interviewer: Miles O’Brien, broadcast journalist
Chairs: Stephanie and Hunter Hunt
Honorary chairs: Ana and Don Carty
Major sponsors: Andrews Distributing, AT&T
Total raised: More than $855,000

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Demos T. Kyrazis, Ph.D., lives in Albuquerque, N.M. Following his third retirement in 1993, he and wife Joanne founded R-Cubed Inc., an engineering firm specializing in precision measurements of optical turbulence in the atmosphere, aero-optics and efficient extraction of wind energy. He served in the United States Air Force for 30 years, retiring as a colonel. He received his doctorate degree in applied science from the University of California Davis and holds a number of patents. He is a survivor of hairy cell leukemia and currently a prostate cancer patient at MD Anderson. He is on the Intellectual Property and Technology Commercialization Advisory Group of the MD Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors.

Survivors Say

Donna McNulty Reinbolt is the patient advocate for MD Anderson's lymphoma SPORE and co-founder and president of the Houston chapter of the Lymphoma Research Foundation. The National Cancer Institute selected her to serve as the national lymphoma advocate at its July 2011 Translational Science Meeting in Washington, D.C.