The Wall Street Journal-20080111-WEEKEND JOURNAL- Gift of the Week- Intel Co-Founder-s Big Move to Fight Parkinson-s
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WEEKEND JOURNAL; Gift of the Week: Intel Co-Founder's Big Move to Fight Parkinson's
Who gave it: Andy Grove, co-founder and former chief executive of technology giant Intel Corp.
How much: as much as $40 million
Who got it: The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, New York
Purpose: an unrestricted gift to fund basic research and to jump- start a "Grove Circle," a community of givers set up to encourage donations through wills and other planned gifts.
How it happened: In 2000, Mr. Grove was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder that can produce symptoms ranging from tremors to dementia. Five years earlier, he battled prostate cancer. After he spoke publicly about it, patients seeking advice inundated him with questions, and he wasn't eager to repeat that experience. "I was tired of being an icon for a disease," he says. Word of his condition circulated anyway, and within a year, he was approached by officials from the Michael J. Fox Foundation. He first met the actor, a longtime Parkinson's patient, in 2001 after asking him to speak at a stem-cell conference in San Francisco.
Currently, Mr. Grove's Parkinson's symptoms are under control with medication. At 71 years of age, he has begun to think about how to provide continuity for various Parkinson's research projects he supports, and Mr. Fox's foundation seemed a ready-made vehicle to oversee such work after he is gone.
He says funding and learning about Parkinson's research has unexpectedly given him a second life, metaphorically speaking. "I should be embarrassed, but I'm not; I am having a good time doing this," he says. "I'm playing scientist again."
Too often, he says, wealthy people confronting serious illnesses respond by starting up new "disease foundations" from scratch, when collaborations may be more effective.
"These things are bigger than all of us."
