Mary Woodard Lasker
| Mary Lasker | |
|---|---|
Mary Lasker, 1957
|
|
| Born |
Mary Woodard November 30, 1900 Watertown, Wisconsin |
| Died | February 21, 1994 (aged 93) Greenwich, Connecticut |
| Residence | New York, New York |
| Education |
University of Wisconsin, Madison Radcliffe College (B.A.) University of Oxford |
| Occupation | Activist Philanthropist Lobbyist Art dealer |
| Organization | list |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Paul Reinhardt (1926–34; divorced) Albert Lasker (1940–52; his death) |
| Parent(s) | Frank Elwin Woodard Sara Johnson Woodard |
| Awards |
Presidential Medal of Freedom (1969) Four Freedoms Award (1987) Congressional Gold Medal (1989) Albert Schweitzer Gold Medal for Humanitarianism (1992) |
Mary Woodard Lasker (November 30, 1900 – February 21, 1994) was an American health activist and philanthropist. She worked to raise funds for medical research, and founded the Lasker Foundation.
Born in Watertown, Wisconsin, Lasker attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison and graduated from Radcliffe College with a major in Art History. Her mother, Sarah Woodard, who was an active civic leader, instilled in her the values of urban beautification while growing up.
Lasker worked as an art dealer at Reinhardt Galleries in New York City. She married the owner Paul Reinhardt. After divorcing she created a fabric company Hollywood Patterns.
In 1938 she became the president of the Birth Control Federation of America, the precursor of the Planned Parenthood Federation.
Her second marriage was to Lord and Thomas advertising executive Albert Lasker until his death in the early 1950s of colon cancer. Ironically, her husband's ad agency had promoted smoking with the slogan, "L.S.M.F.T.—Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco" back when the dangers of smoking were not well known. Indeed, Albert's special charge at his firm was to get more women to smoke, as they lagged far behind men as smokers.
The Laskers supported the national health insurance proposal under President Harry S. Truman. After its failure Mary Lasker saw research funding as the best way to promote public health.
With her husband, they created the Lasker Foundation in 1942 to promote medical research. The Lasker Award is considered the most prestigious American award in medical research. As of 2015, eighty-seven Lasker laureates have gone on to receive a Nobel Prize.
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