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Marv and Babe Conney |
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Based on their respect for University
of Chicago researchers and their own experiences at
the University, Marv and Babe Conney made a $1.5 million
gift in trust to the Biological Sciences Division.
Two-thirds of the gift will support the Mildred and
Marv Conney Fund for Research in Hematology/Oncology,
an endowment for research in cancer genetics in the
Department of Medicine. The remaining $500,000 will
establish the Mildred and Marv Conney Fund, an unrestricted
endowment supporting research in the Department of
Human Genetics.
The Conney’s long relationship
with the University of Chicago began in 1973, when
their son, David, entered the Pritzker School of Medicine.
A decade later, when he was experiencing heart problems,
Marv Conney sought the medical advice of Leon Resnekov,
MD, a cardiologist at Chicago. Marv was subsequently
advised to have surgery at Chicago’s Bernard
A. Mitchell Hospital. Today he says, “Dr. Resnekov
saved my life. We have felt an attachment to the University
ever since.”
Indeed, in 1999, the Conneys joined
the Visiting Committee of the Division of the Biological
Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine.
Through this association, they met Janet Rowley, MD,
the Blum-Riese Distinguished Service Professor in
Medicine, and David Ledbetter, PhD, then the Marjorie
I. and Bernard A. Mitchell Professor in Human Genetics.
And, says Marv, “We were really swept away by
the work of these researchers.”
As a result of that meeting and
what he calls a mutual loyalty between the University
of Chicago and the family, the Conneys decided to
establish their trust. “The University took
us to their heart and made us a part of the family.
We thought genetics was a marvelous direction to go
in regard to the future of science.”
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