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Alice Woodard

Alice Woodard Fordyce

Dies in Manhattan

09 09 1992

Word has been received of the death of Alice Woodard Fordyce, a native of Watertown and a philanthropist who aided medical research.

Fordyce, 86, died of heart failure Wednesday, Sept. 9, 1992 at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, N.Y.

A memorial service is scheduled for Tuesday at 4 p.m. at the United Nations Chapel, 777 United Nations Plaza, N.Y.

Memorials, if desired, may be made to BARGEMUSIC Limited, Foulton Berry Landing, Brooklyn, N.Y.

She was born in Watertown, daughter of the late Frank and Sara Woodard. Her father was president of the Bank of Watertown, a position he held until his death in 1933.

Her husband, A. Grant Fordyce, an architect, whom she married in 1939, died in 1972.

She is survived by her sister, Mary Woodard Lasker of Manhattan, N. Y., and Greenwich, Conn; her son, James, of Greenwich, and three grandsons.

For almost 50 years Fordyce and her sister were the driving forces behind the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, which awarded the Albert Lasker Medical Research Awards.

The awards, valued at $15,000 each, were given for significant achievement in basic and medical research. Those awards are considered second in prestige to the Nobel prizes. Forty-nine Lasker awards recipients were later awarded the Nobel prize.

Fordyce graduated from Smith College in 1928 and studied at the Sorbonne and the University of Grenoble in France.

Fordyce served on many governmental committees and with health-related organizations.

She was also involved with civic activities on a national and international scale.