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Article: Philanthropist Mary Lasker Dies at 93
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- February 23, 1994
- Author:
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Mary Woodard Lasker, a philanthropist whose money and influence
helped push the federal government into vastly expanded research of
cancer and other diseases, died Monday of pneumonia. She was 93.
In the 1940s, when the word "cancer" was so dreaded that it was
seldom uttered outside family circles, she helped convince the Radio
Corporation of America that the disease could be mentioned by name
on the air.
At a time when medical research was largely funded by private
foundations, she helped convince Congress that the federal
government was the only source with enough money to finance it
adequately.
Jonas Salk, who developed the polio vaccine, once called her "a
matchmaker between science ...