D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A would write about this dinner (where I happened to be seated next to the author) I opened my copy the following afternoon to get a look. Being the slow reader that I am, I had no intention of reading much of it in a few hours. Hillie was eight years old when this occurred to her and her family. The child’s memory is the purest because everything is new, and so the ordeal remains fresh for the reader, and shocking, and at moments almost terrifying. That said, her parents looked after their family in such a way that the children were fortified by their unity. This is truly one of those “can’t put it down” books, where you learn what the child learned as she learned it. The family finally returned to New York at the end of the war, after the Japanese surrendered and General Douglas MacArthur landed in Japan. It’s a story of history, of travel, of culture, of geogra-
phy in the mid–20th century, with all the horrors surrounding millions of people all over the world—and one family’s way of getting through it. The Social Season in New York is dominated mainly by the charities and philanthropies that bring people together, both in volunteering and in massive fund-raising. Hundreds of millions are raised for hundreds of charitable and philanthropic organizations that serve not only the citizens of New York, but in many cases, universally in the world. Many focus on specific medical, educational, and cultural objectives, much of which is taken for granted as part of the city’s daily life. On another Thursday night, Ronald Lauder was honored by the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) at its 10th Annual Connoisseur’s Dinner at Sotheby’s. The event raised over $3.25 million for Alzheimer’s research.
Leonard Lauder presented his brother, Ronald, with the Chairman’s Award for his leadership in supporting new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. In his introduction, Leonard told us how his brother came to him 18 years ago with this project (to fund research for an Alzheimer’s drug) and he suggested that they do it together. That was a moment in our history. Ronald wanted to find a cure. The idea is never impossible in this great scientific age of ours, but close to it. Alzheimer’s really came into the national consciousness in the late 1970s. It was a frightful mystery. By the 1990s, it was beginning to take on the numbers of epidemic. And it was scary. I was at the first of these annual dinners, when the result of the Lauder brothers’ intention had taken form and the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation was established. It was held in same
auction room in Sotheby’s that we were in on this Thursday night. It was not a gala in the cookie-cutter way that galas are staged nowadays. It was a serious dinner: black-tie, beautifully presented, and beautifully lit. The message from the podium (courtesy of Leonard as well as Nancy Corzine and Dr. Howard Fillit) was presented over the course of the dinner. It was very civilized and very serious. It was a select audience of about 200 guests, because it was a fund-raiser and they had invited potential donors. The Lauder family is known for its great philanthropists in New York and they give on a large scale. They know their neighborhood. That’s who was in the room. The initial discussion of Alzheimer’s at the very first dinner was not memorable, except for the fact that they didn’t have a cure and they
T H E M I D D L E B U R G S P R I N G R AC E S AT G L E N W O O D PA R K I N V I R G I N I A
Temple and Ellie Grassi 22 QUEST
Ned Grassi and Andy Harris
The Temple Gwathmey Trophy
Edith Grassi
Charlotte Aukamp
CO U RTE S Y O F T H E G R A S S I FA M I LY
Louise Whitney