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The Power of Philanthropy
When their son Joey died of cystic fibrosis in 1986 at age 12, Kathy and Joe O’Donnell (MBA 1971) vowed to fight the disease. O’Donnell, at the time the president of the Boston Concessions Group, joined with Vertex Pharmaceuticals and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to seek a remedy for the heretofore incurable affliction that affects some 30,000 children and young adults in the United States. The O’Donnells founded The Joey Fund and worked tirelessly with the other organizations. Almost singlehandedly, O’Donnell created “a mind-boggling flow of money in pursuit of a cure,” according to the Boston Globe (February 9, 2012). “Joe could have turned away and said he hates this disease, but he didn’t,” said C. Richard Mattingly, COO of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. “He led us. He wasn’t working to save Joey’s life. He was working for others who still had a chance.” In February, the FDA announced its approval of Kalydeco, a drug produced by Vertex that will immediately help some 1,200 cystic fibrosis patients and is viewed as a breakthrough precursor drug to forthcoming products that will help all other CF sufferers. Asked how he was able to marshal such support for the cause, O’Donnell replied, “We went out and said we have hope.”
A month later, the O’Donnells made news again, with a $30 million gift to Harvard University. “Harvard has played a very important role in my life,” said O’Donnell, who is also a 1967 Harvard College graduate. He expressed hope that the gift “will encourage others to do the same” as President Drew Faust and her team “guide the University forward” (Boston Globe, March 20, 2012). Now head of Belmont Capital, O’Donnell is a former dean of students at HBS, a recipient of the HBS Alumni Achievement Award in 2005, and a member of the Harvard Corporation.
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