D.C. Living Legend raises $5.2 million

Board of Visitors leadership drives record-breaking effort

BY Sarah Watson

Bob Schieffer interviews Bill Clinton and Colin Powell onstage at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater.

Former President Bill Clinton and General Colin Powell were honored at A Conversation With a Living Legend® in Washington, D.C., April 21 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The bipartisan event raised $5.2 million for MD Anderson in a record-breaking effort led by event chairs Edwina and Tom Johnson, Beth and Wayne Gibbens, Diane and Paul Begala, Marlene and Fred Malek and Donna and Mack McLarty. Proceeds will fund cancer research within the institution’s Moon Shots Program, including a pilot Pancreatic Cancer Moon Shot.

“CBS This Morning” co-host Norah O’Donnell emceed the program, which included remarks by UT System Chancellor Bill McRaven and MD Anderson President Ron DePinho, M.D.

Veteran television journalist Bob Schieffer led an onstage interview that touched on the intervention in Haiti, the problems associated with American poverty and expected challenges facing the nation’s next president. The Whiffenpoofs of Yale offered a rousing a cappella conclusion, followed by a seated dinner on the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Level.

Event Chairs:

Diane and Paul Begala
Beth and Wayne Gibbens
Edwina and Tom Johnson
Marlene and Fred Malek
Donna and Mack McLarty

General chairs:

Lana and Barry Andrews
Elizabeth and Mark Epley
Susan and Don Evans
Annette and Mel Klein
Doro and Bobby Koch
Tricia Koch
Sandra and James Langdon Jr.
Sherry Lansing
Laurie and Pierre Lapeyre Jr.
Nancy Loeffler
Yael and Jed Manocherian
Charline and Red McCombs
Kit and Charles Moncrief
Rob Mosbacher Jr.
Miriam and Jim Mulva
Tani and Tony Sanchez Jr.
Lois and Eric Zorn

Honorary chairs:

President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter
Mrs. Ronald Reagan
President and Mrs. George H.W. Bush
President and Mrs. George W. Bush
The Honorable and Mrs. James A. Baker, III

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