website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
Woodard Lasker was a leading advocate of
medical research for major diseases including cancer, heart disease and
AIDS. She, along with her husband, the
late Albert Lasker, founded the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation which in turn established the Albert Lasker Medical Research Awards, one of the most prestigious
in the field of science.
Throughout her life, Mary Lasker fought to encourage funding for medical research for
cancer, heart disease, stroke, mental illness, blindness, cerebral palsy,
arthritis, osteoporosis, growth
disorders, and AIDS. She served on
numerous public health advisory boards. Especially passionate about the fight
against cancer, she led the reorganization and growth of the American Cancer
Society and established its research program; advocated more aggressive applied
cancer research, including chemotherapy; and became the driving force behind
the National Cancer Act, which launched the national “war on cancer” in
1971. As a result of her work, she
became one of the most influential laywoman in medical research in the 20th
century.
____________________________________________________________________________________
1900
Mary Woodard was born in Watertown on
Nov. 30, 1900, daughter of Frank Elwin and Sara Johnson Woodard. Her father was a prominent Watertown resident
and served as president of the former Bank of
Watertown, now known as M&I Bank of Watertown. Her mother was a civic leader whose activism
instilled in Mary a lifelong interest in urban beautification. The family home stands
today at 400 N. Washington St., Watertown.
Mary Woodard attended the University of
Wisconsin at Madison and graduated cum laude in 1923 from Radcliffe
College. She then studied briefly at
Oxford, settling in New York City, where she worked as an art dealer and began
to build an impressive art collection of her own. During the Great Depression, she also
launched a successful dress pattern company.
In 1940, Mary Woodard married
advertising mogul Albert Davis Lasker who led the
world renowned firm of Lord & Thomas. Committed to promoting his wife's passion for
medical research, Albert Lasker sold the advertising
firm, and in 1942 the Laskers created the Albert and
Mary Lasker Foundation to advance medical research
into the major causes of disability and death.
Skillfully coordinating the support of the media, medical experts, U.S.
presidents, Congress, and other funders, Mary Lasker
built a powerful lobby for medical research,
especially directed at the expansion of the National Institutes of Health to
include research centers concentrating on specific diseases.
1942
The New York City-based Lasker Foundation was founded by Woodard Lasker and her husband in 1942 to increase widespread
support for research by creating awareness of the public benefits of medical
science. The annual Lasker
Awards are the centerpiece of the foundation's activities. More than 300 Lasker
Awards have been presented since the program's inception in 1945. Seventy-six Lasker
laureates have later received the Nobel Prize, including 28 in the last two
decades. The foundation is widely
credited with inspiring U.S. presidents and Congress to greatly expand federal
funding for medical research, particularly through the National Institutes of
Health.
1957
01 20 Washington and New York circles were buzzing today
with reports that Adlai Stevenson, twice Democratic candidate for the
Presidency, and former governor of Illinois, and Mrs. Mary Woodard Lasker are to be married in the spring. Rumors to that effect have been heard for
some time, but yesterday the Washington columnist, Drew Pearson, in a report
from Washington brought the rumor into the open. Mrs. Lasker is the
former Mary Woodard of Watertown, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Frank E.
Woodard [son of Marshall Woodard]. Her father was for many years president of
the Bank of Watertown. The Woodard family home was at 400 North
Washington Street. Mrs. Lasker is the widow of A. D. Lasker,
a leading advertising agency executive and patron of the arts and
philanthropist. She resides in New
York. WDT
1969
In 1969, President Lyndon Johnson
awarded Mary Lasker the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. In 1987 the U.S. Senate and House
of Representatives authorized President George Bush to strike a special gold
medal in her honor "in recognition of her humanitarian contributions in the
areas of medical research and education, urban beautification and the fine
arts.
She was the recipient of numerous honors and recognition, including the
Radcliffe Achievement Award, the college's highest honor. In 1987 she received an honorary doctor of
humanities degree from Harvard University, and in 1989 the Harvard School of
Public Health established the Mary Woodard Lasker
professorship of health sciences.
She was
recipient of more than 60 awards and medals including the Albert Schweitzer
Gold Medal for Humanitarian Philanthropy from Johns Hopkins University in 1992.
1980s
In addition to her advocacy of health
care research and funding, she is remembered as a prominent patron of urban
beautification. She supported projects in New York and Washington, D.C., that
included planting hundreds of thousands of trees and flowers, many of which she
personally donated. As a tribute to Mary Lasker's
work, a pink tulip was named for her during the 1980s.
1988
04
26 Mrs. Albert Lasker,
a native of Watertown, and one of the greatest private benefactors in this
country, has been awarded a special Gold Medal by the United States Congress for
her humanitarian contributions in the areas of medical research and education,
urban beautification and the fine arts. Although
the former Mary Woodard left
Watertown many years ago for New York City, she is still well remembered by
longtime residents of this city. Her work
and financial contributions to humanity are so great that Congress was moved to
give her this high honor. Mrs. Lasker has also received numerous other honors in the past,
and in 1969 she was presented with the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian
honor bestowed by the United States government. She was presented with that
award by then President Richard Nixon.
2009
Mary Woodard Lasker Stamp
2009
02 25 The late Mary Woodard Lasker, a Watertown native and a
philanthropist in the field of medical research, will be immortalized on a U.S.
postage stamp.
The United States Postal Service announced that it will release a Mary
Lasker stamp on May 14 as part of its "Distinguished Americans"
series. Created by Mark Summers, the stamp
artwork is based on an undated, black and white photograph. Summers is noted for his scratchboard
technique, a style distinguished by a dense network of lines etched with
exquisite precision.
Release
of the stamp coincides with a renewed federal commitment to biomedical
research, including additional funding for the National Institutes of Health,
which Mary Lasker helped build.
State Senator Scott Fitzgerald, 13th Senate District and Watertown Mayor Ron Krueger
05 15 MARY WOODARD
LASKER STAMP CEREMONY
Friday, May 15, 2009.
Watertown, Wis.
“First-day” ceremonies are popular events with stamp collectors. At the typical ceremony, the subject of the
new stamp is discussed by speakers familiar with the person, place or event;
dignitaries speak briefly; the stamp design is revealed; and those attending
the event have an opportunity to obtain a first-day cancel. For this stamp, the U.S. Postal Service plans
a nationwide release of the new 78c stamp without an official first-day
ceremony. That gives us a chance to hold
an unofficial ceremony in Mary Woodard Lasker’s hometown, Watertown, Wis.
Coincidentally, the day of release is the day before “Planting Day” in
Watertown, when resident volunteers help beautify the city with plantings in
downtown planters. Mary Lasker, besides
the philanthropic work for which she is being honored, supported urban
beautification on a grand scale in New York City and Washington, D.C.
The Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs is a confederation of 30 clubs
representing hundreds of stamp collectors across the state of Wisconsin.
With the cooperation and support of Watertown residents, we are planning
a mid-morning ceremony that will draw attention to the city and its
attractions, help mobilize cooperation in the volunteer planting effort,
generate pride in the city’s history, and create awareness of the hobby of
stamp collecting. Among the speakers
will be William Jannke, Randy Roeseler,
and the local post master. The ceremony will be held on the front lawn
of the Marshall Woodard home on N.
Washington Street where Mary Lasker was born and grew up. In the event of inclement weather the meeting
will take place at the new city storage building on S. Second Street.
The WFSC will prepare a “cacheted cover” (illustrated envelope)
appropriate to the Lasker stamp and design a pictorial cancel for use by the
USPS. The WFSC also will arrange for
displays of other Wisconsin-related stamps (including the one for Carl Schurz,
another former resident of Watertown), promotional material for the city and
nearby stamp clubs, stamp-collecting kits for youth, and other material.
Watch the Watertown Daily Times for
more information as it becomes available.
05 20 Editor, Daily Times:
On Friday the city played host to a U.S. Postal event honoring the late
Mary Woodard Lasker, a Watertown native born in 1900. The event was coordinated by local postal
officials, along with the Main Street Program and the Watertown Area Chamber of
Commerce.
We wish to acknowledge the following groups or persons who helped to make
the event a success. Often, their help
is behind the scenes and is not noticed by the general public.
Thank you to the local park and rec department (Jon Steber, Jeff Doyle)
for delivering benches, to the street department (Rick Schultz) for preparing a
backup site in case of inclement weather, to Pederson Funeral Homes for use of
chairs, to Glenn’s Market and Catering for use of tables.
Thank you to Craft Castle (Leah Reese), ISB Community Bank, Hafemeister
Funeral Home (Rich Nienow) and the Main Street Program (Palmer Draeger) for use
of canopies, and to Palmer Draeger for delivering floral arrangements to help
brighten the grounds. Thank you to Jim
Huhn of Best Sound Service for the discounted lease of a sound system.
Thank you to the Jonathon and Melissa Lampe family for hosting the event on the grounds of their home, the former residence of the Woodard family. The setting lent itself very well to the occasion. Thank you to Jean Kwapil for the gift of several dozen pink tulip shaped cookies for the reception. Thank you to Maurice Wozniak of the Federation of Wisconsin Stamp Collectors for presenting a wonderful display of stamp collecting.
We also would like to thank participants in the event. Thank you to Mayor Krueger, Bill Jannke and
Maurice Wozniak for their presentations which helped to enrich the ceremony.
Special thanks to the honor guard supplied from the Pitterle-Beaudoin
Post 189 of Watertown. Their elegant,
crisp presentation of the colors helped to get the event off to a terrific
start. We appreciated their willingness
to break away from other duties to help us with this event.
Watertown has had two stamps created in honor of former citizens. It is rare for a community to have even one
stamp created — much less two. It is a unique experience for everyone
involved. The last
commemorative stamp ceremony in Watertown was in 1983. We certainly hope that if the situation
avails itself again in the future, the people of Watertown will rise to the
occasion and celebrate the honor.
Jeff Hoffman,
Watertown postmaster
Susan Dascenzo, manager,
Watertown Main Street Program
Randy Roeseler,
executive director, Watertown Area Chamber of Commerce
Cross References:
Alice Woodard, sister of May
Columbia University reference set
Lasker is the second person from
Watertown to be honored with a postage stamp.
On June 3, 1983, a stamp honoring Carl Schurz
was released.
