Ludwig Cancer — The Story
In 1971, Mr. Daniel K. Ludwig established the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research with his international holdings. In the late 1980’s, Mr. Ludwig directed his executor, R. Palmer Baker, Jr. (LICR’s former Chairman of the Board), to draw up his will such that his estate - his domestic US holdings - would also be left to cancer research. However, Mr. Ludwig, having established an international presence with the Ludwig Institute, wished to use his estate to support research within the USA.
Mr. Baker asked Dr. Lloyd Old (LICR’s current Chairman of the Board) to nominate leading research institutions in the USA, and between them they came up with a list of six: The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine (Chicago, Illinois), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore, Maryland), Harvard Medical School (Boston, Massachusetts), Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (New York, New York), Stanford University (Stanford, California), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Cambridge, Massachusetts).
Following Mr. Ludwig’s death on August 27, 1992, a trust named for Mr. Ludwig and his wife, was enacted. Under the terms of Mr. Ludwig’s will, the assets of the ‘Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research’ (the ‘Ludwig Fund’) were to support cancer research at the six named US institutions and were to be distributed completely by 21 years after his death (i.e. 2013). The Ludwig Fund’s endowment was placed under the custodianship of Trustees - some of Mr. Ludwig’s most trusted business and personal advisors (see ‘Trustees of the Ludwig Fund’) - most of whom were, or are, also involved with LICR.
“Mr. Ludwig believed the control of cancer required the same elements he found essential in his own endeavors - outstanding individuals given the necessary resources to meet any challenge. The Directors of the Ludwig Centers are some of the most eminent figures in US cancer research today and combining their talents with those of the global Ludwig Institute creates a powerful force in cancer research. The Trustees believe that a collaborative Ludwig Cancer network can accelerate the translation of the most promising areas of research into new therapies.”
Lloyd J. Old M.D.
Chairman, Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research
Chairman, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
In addition to the benefit of the scientific vision of Dr. Lloyd Old, the Chair of the Trustees, the Ludwig Fund has been fortunate that the management of its business affairs has been largely in the hands of Ludwig Fund Trustee and LICR President, Edward A. McDermott, Jr. As president of National Bulk Carriers, Inc. (NBC), the Ludwig Fund's principal asset, Mr. McDermott has been responsible for the successful representation of NBC’s interests in the partnerships holding its half-interests in two midtown Manhattan office buildings (one of which is the building in which the LICR New York Office is located). Under Mr. McDermott’s stewardship at NBC, these partnerships have generated income for the six beneficiaries many times the size of the total distributions originally expected to become available from the Fund. In addition, through a sophisticated application of the tax laws, Mr. McDermott has also set in motion a plan that will permit the distribution of the ownership of these partnership interests to the beneficiaries tax free. The result is that the Fund will be able to provide a level of financial support to the cancer research activities of these six institutions at a level that vastly exceeds the expectations of the founder of the Fund and its Trustees.
Between 1993 and 2006, the Ludwig Fund expended some $53 million for two professorial chairs - one laboratory research and one clinical research - at the six beneficiary institutions. Dr. Lucy Shapiro, a member of the LICR’s Scientific Advisory Committee, is the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research at Stanford University.
In 2006, the Trustees distributed NBC stock plus $120 million cash - the largest, single gift by a foundation for cancer research in the USA - to create a Ludwig Center at each beneficiary institution. The $20 million plus stock given to each Center will establish an endowment that is expected to generate approximately $2 million each year in perpetuity. The Centers will receive further distributions, of approximately $12 million annually, until 2013, to allow the endowments to mature.
Collaboration between the Centers and the Ludwig Institute - under the banner of ‘Ludwig Cancer’ - was a key point in the negotiations and agreements between the Trustees and the beneficiary institutions. “While the monetary distributions from the Ludwig Fund do not directly benefit the Ludwig Institute, the relationships being built with these Centers, which are headed by some of the leading figures in US cancer research, present significant, new opportunities for collaboration for Ludwig Institute investigators,” says Dr. Andrew Simpson, LICR’s Executive Director for Programs & Operations, who will coordinate LICR’s interactions within Ludwig Cancer.
In fact, collaborations are already underway between Ludwig Centers and the Ludwig Institute. In February, Dr. Bob Weinberg, the Director of the Ludwig Center at MIT will make a return visit to the LICR Melbourne Branch, while Dr. Gregory Riggins, from the Ludwig Center at Johns Hopkins, and Dr. Kwok Wong, from the Ludwig Center at Dana-Farber/HMS, attended the Institute’s ‘EGFR Cascade Meeting’ (part of the Signaling Program’s activities) in San Diego in June (see June 2006 NewsLink). Dr. Riggins is now collaborating with Dr. Sandro de Souza (Sao Paulo Branch) and other members of the Ludwig Institute’s Clinical Genomics Program (see September 2006 NewsLink) and visited the Sao Paulo Branch and several LICR Affiliates in Brazil this year. Dr. Wong has been working with members of the Ludwig Institute’s Targeted Antibody Program, and a manuscript from this collaboration - which includes Dr. George Demetri (Director of the Ludwig Center at Dana-Farber/HMS and LICR’s Executive Director for Clinical and Translational Research), Drs. Webster Cavenee (Director, San Diego Branch), Lloyd Old (Director, New York Branch) and Andrew Scott (Director, Melbourne Centre for Clinical Sciences) - has been accepted for publication. Drs. Wong and Demetri are also in the process of exploring collaborations with the Institute’s Clinical Genomics Program.
Trustees of the Ludwig Fund
Original members
R. Palmer Baker, Jr. - former Chairman, LICR Board of Directors
James R. Kerr - former Chairman, LICR Board of Directors (deceased)
George Jenkins
Malcolm McLean (deceased)
William Spencer (deceased)Current members
R. Palmer Baker, Jr. - former Chairman, LICR Board of Directors
John D. Gordan, III - LICR Board of Directors
George Jenkins
Edward A. McDermott Jr. - LICR President and LICR Board of Directors
Lloyd J. Old - Chairman, LICR Board of Directors
Sir Derek Roberts - LICR Board of Directors