A second helping

Business and community leaders in the Dallas-Fort Worth area rallied in support of their second A Conversation With a Living Legend^® luncheon in four months. The May 9 event at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas raised more than $773,000 for research and patient care initiatives at MD Anderson.

Approximately 660 guests turned their attention to the world-map backdrop behind a well-appointed stage reminiscent of Downing Street as Greta Van Susteren, host of Fox News Channel’s “On the Record With Greta Van Susteren,” interviewed the Right Honourable Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The conversation touched on a variety of topics, from politics to health care policy to Mr. Blair’s teenage dream of becoming a rock star.

Amanda Bush of Fort Worth served as chair of the 23rd annual event, with Leo Corrigan III of Dallas as co-chair.

Andrews Distributing Company and AT&T were presenting sponsors, each with $100,000 contributions.

Since its inception in Dallas in 1990, A Conversation With a Living Legend^® has raised $16.47 million through the annual luncheon and similar events in Houston, San Antonio, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Washington, D.C.

The Dallas event has raised more than $12 million, including $855,000 at a Jan. 4 luncheon honoring Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson in an interview with broadcast journalist Miles O’Brien.

In 2010, MD Anderson created an endowed Dallas/Fort Worth Living Legend Chair for Cancer Research at MD Anderson. With every $1 million the event raises, a new chair is funded to enhance the institution’s ability to recruit and retain faculty of the highest caliber, advance its research and patient care initiatives and train future generations of physicians and scientists.