LICR NewsLink

June 2004

Daniel K. Ludwig's Philanthropy for Cancer Research

Although not widely known, Mr. Daniel K. Ludwig in fact created two separate, not-for-profit entities. The “Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research” is a Swiss, not-for-profit corporation that conducts its own research. The “Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research” is a Trust of which six named academic Institutes are the beneficiaries. Although they are two separate entities, the Trustees of the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research are also, under a separate Trust agreement, Share-holders for the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. (along with the Swiss Confederation). The Trustees (Box 1) have no financial interests or assets in either entity, but are responsible for ensuring that they are operated exclusively for charitable scientific purposes.

 

The LICR

The LICR is comprised of two parts: ‘the Institute’, which performs the scientific and medical research, and ‘the Fund’ (Box 2), which manages and maintains the endowment that supports the Institute’s research.

The Board of Directors (Box 3), which administers both the Institute and the Fund, is elected annually by the Trustees. The Board is the paramount authority of LICR, and is responsible for its policy, direction, and effective operation. The Administrative Officers (Dr. Lloyd J. Old, Director & CEO; Mr. Edward A. McDermott Jr., President; and Mr. Richard Walker, Chief Financial Officer) are accountable to the Board of Directors.

“Our primary goal is to be supportive of the Institute’s Officers and staff,” says Mr. R. Palmer Baker Jr., who is Chairman of the Board of Directors, and was one of Mr. Ludwig’s most trusted advisers throughout the process of establishing the Trusts. “The success of the Institute is really due to the strong leadership from Ed McDermott and Lloyd Old. Our organization is really unusual because of the collegiality of the people.”

 

Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research

This part of Mr. Ludwig’s philanthropic endeavor (hereafter referred to as ‘the Fund’) was named for Mr. Ludwig and his wife, and was created for the purpose of providing financial support for cancer research to six educational and medical institutions in the USA. The six institutions are Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Stanford University, the University of Chicago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Each of these institutions has at least one ‘Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Chair’ (for a list of the current Chairs, please see the LICR website).

The Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research was endowed with Mr. Ludwig’s US holdings. The Fund actually has a time-limit for its existence (the LICR does not), and must have its remaining assets distributed to the six institutions named above within 26 years of Mr. Ludwig’s death (1992). The terms of the Fund dictate that the assets can only go to the six US institutions; they can not be transferred to LICR. Therefore a challenge for the Trustees is to have the Fund’s assets distributed in ways that will create close relationships between the six Institutions and the LICR, and allow synergistic interactions between the scientists supported by the LICR and the scientists supported by the Fund.