Honoring Dr. Myron Weisfeldt and Craig Wynett
Every gala is fun and significant, but this one was particularly special. On the eve of Valentine’s Day 21 years ago at Doubles, we celebrated the formal birth of our Foundation, in the company of the two men we were finally able to bring here to thank and celebrate tonight: Doctor Michael Weisfeldt and Procter& Gamble’s Craig Wynett.
I always remember with amusement the dismay of Wendy Carduner (who owns Doubles) when John Pepper, P&G’s chairman, ordered her to dismantle the club’s Valentine’s Day decorations for our celebration. With enormous equanimity, she agreed, but gently pointed out that P&G would have to pay for their reinstallation for the Valentine’s Day Doubles celebration on the following night! It was unspeakably gratifying for me to be able finally to acknowledge Mike and Craig; they both recounted their roles in helping to birth this partnership. We achieved amazing success with this Foundation, and we owe it to their efforts; they worked with us for two years with incredible faith in the fact that the out-of-the box idea that a partnership between science and the corporate world could improve human health in a completely new way. It is the reason so much of our support goes to Johns Hopkins’ scholars, several of whom were with us that night. When Dr, Weisfeldt left Columbia, he went to Johns Hopkins to head the Department of Medicine there. Craig Wynett who retired from P&G has been one of my closest friends: I will always recall the fun we had in every encounter—and how absolutely brilliant he was as a tactician in making P&G believe this would be a wonderful idea.