D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A marriages and, also, divorces. They were the stuff of media marketing. That public image was probably more a fantasy on the part of the press and media of the day because, away from the camera, they were a close couple of sisters, brought up in a strict household where children followed the rules and toed the line. There were no “wild ones” among them. They wouldn’t have dared if they even thought of it. They moved to New York when they were young women. They both had children and raised them very hands-on. To this day, the families are close in the old American style. What is really notable, in addition to the sisters’ devo-
tion to each other and their families and their brother’s family, is their very serious devotion to what some would call philanthropy but what the two women would call their work. Anne developed the National Center for Learning Disabilities, which has now helped hundreds of thousands of young people with learning disabilities to turn their lives around. She has also written three books about the matter of children with learning disabilities and brought the subject to the public table. Learning disabilities are far more widespread and common than many people even know to acknowledge. Charlotte’s work has been the New York Hospital. I
don’t know how she first got involved, although she told us last night that when she was six years old, she got a nurse’s uniform and kit for Christmas, and she loved it. Taking care of and healing people has always been her passionate motivation. Somehow, 34 years ago when she, then in her mid-thirties, joined the hospital’s board, she found a way to exercise that childhood fancy and turn it into a serious and constructive reality for many others. If the child is the father of the man; then what children express creatively defines their potential. Last night Charlotte Ford emphasized her intense interest in patient care. That to her, is everything. Her re-
lationship to the hospital and its constant upgrading of care and service is something that draws her interest (and visits very often). In the years since she first joined the board she has also raised millions for the cause and enlisted all possibly available assets to make the hospital the great institution it is today. Everyone was happy. This dinner has a huge turnout. They raised a record $3.3 million. After dinner we were treated to the music of John Pizzarelli Quartet with Jessica Molaskey. Chairs of the evening were Renee and Robert Belfer, Lee and Jeffrey Feil, Barbara and Stephen Friedman, Barbara and Peter Georgescu, Peter and Mary
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