George and Julia Argyros Gift to UCI's School of Medicine

A $5 million gift from Julia and George Argyros to UC Irvine’s Gavin Herbert Eye Institute was announced Thursday, April 7, at “Science Under the Stars,” the second annual UCI School of Medicine gala. The gift will establish the Julia & George Argyros Ambulatory Surgery Center in the newest and most state-of-the-art eye care and treatment facility to be built on the West Coast. The gala doubled as a groundbreaking ceremony for the 70,000-square-foot institute, which will house patient exam and waiting areas, the outpatient surgery center, an optical shop, and faculty office and conference space. The Argyros donation will go toward the nearly $31 million estimated cost of the building. Construction is expected to be completed in 2013.

“Julia and George Argyros’ histories – along with Gavin Herbert’s – as builders and leaders in Orange County run deep,” said UCI Chancellor Michael Drake, “and we are especially proud they have joined us in personal support of the institute. We cannot think of a more fitting way to acknowledge their support than by naming the ambulatory surgery center in their honor.”

The Gavin Herbert Eye Institute’s mission is to develop educational programs, technologies and clinical solutions that enhance visual health and performance for people in Orange County, the nation and the world through cooperation with medical professionals, industry and the community. Gavin Herbert, founder and former CEO of Allergan Inc. – an Irvine-based maker of eye care and other products, including Botox Cosmetic – along with his mother, Josephine Gleis, made the initial $10 million naming gift in 2007. Another $13 million in commitments also has been secured.

“We’re close to building something special,” Herbert said, “something we’ve dreamed about for more than 30 years. I’ve known and respected my good friends George and Julia Argyros for decades and have watched their substantial contributions to Orange County. I’m delighted that they’re joining me in helping provide these much-needed services to the community.”

Jim Mazzo, chairman and CEO of Abbott Medical Optics Inc., in Santa Ana, noted that bringing eye care services and top researchers to Orange County requires a top-notch facility. “By aligning ourselves with outstanding community leaders such as George and Julia Argyros and Gavin Herbert, we can create a facility that will keep the institute’s researchers, professors, physicians and fellows in the vanguard of innovation, training and care,” said Mazzo, chair of the institute campaign committee.

Dr. Roger Steinert, founding director of The Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, said: “We’re committed to meeting the community’s needs and elevating the level of eye care in Orange County to the best anywhere, nationally or internationally.”

5 Chefs Serve Generously for Canterbury

A collaborative effort between five of Auckland’s top chefs and Villa Maria Estate has raised $100,000 for the Christchurch City Mission. What began as a desire to do something to help the people of Canterbury after the devastating February earthquake became a demonstration of solidarity and generosity from Villa Maria, those organising the event and those that attended.

Two hundred and ten guests paid $250 each for the five-course degustation matched with Villa Maria wines. Everyone involved from the front of house staff to the food suppliers donated their time or products for the event.

Participating chefs included: Des Harris – Clooney Michael Meredith – Merediths Mike van de Elzen – Molten Restaurant Sid Sahrawat – Sidart Restaurant Stephen Ward – O’Connell Street Bistro

The luncheon was hosted by Villa Maria. Kerre Woodham and John Hawkesby emceed the event where guests were wined and dined with live entertainment and with a series of live and silent auctions. The enthusiastic crowd bid generously, including $5000 for a progressive dinner at a selection of Auckland restaurants.

The grand total from ticket and auction sales came to $93,000 with an un-named person pledging the extra $7000 to make an even total of $100,000.

One hundred per cent of all proceeds are being donated to the Christchurch City Mission, an organisation that has a heavy load to bear in the coming months.

Christchurch City Missioner Michael Gorman was ecstatic to hear of the donation: “Our work at the City Mission is only just beginning, as we are now faced with an influx of new people who never thought they would need us. Redundancies and homelessness are forcing people to set aside their pride and seek help. We are eager to assist and will have better resources to do so with this wonderful donation,” he said.

George Fistonich's Villa Maria beats its own record with an outstanding 17 Golds

George Fistonich's Villa Maria Estate has beaten its own record having been awarded 17 Golds at the Royal Easter Show Wine Awards 2011. The awards are across their entire range of wines including Private Bin, Cellar Selection, Reserve and Single Vineyard and for majority of the wine varietals the winery makes.

Villa Maria Estate Group Winemaker Alastair Maling MW was ecstatic with the medal wins: “This is the most incredible result that we’ve had in a wine competition in the nine years I’ve been at Villa Maria. Not only is the result great for our brand, it’s also extremely satisfying to win awards across the full spectrum of wines produced by Villa Maria”.

The Royal Easter Show Wine Awards is New Zealand’s oldest wine competition and this year had a record 1500 wines entered from 276 wineries around the country.

Trophy winners will be announced at an awards dinner on 19 March 2011.

Wild Meat Sauce, by a Top Bloke

My 'Jelly and Jam Queen', Mum, sent me a bottle of the Sauce of meat sauces, Glasseye Creek, Wild Meat Sauce, from the Mediterranean Market in Queenstown N.Z. This stuff (sauce) is wow, with a ‘home-grown’ flavour, yet with a ‘Paul Newman’s own’ kinda gotta get some more… ‘pull’!

The ‘good joker’ from the ‘Main land’ (South Island N.Z.) Don Keebles, who is the bloke who beavered away at the recipe, seems resolute to tell the story through his friends, especially his good mate, Dave White who owned the Little Wanganui Pub.

“So, fueled with the West Coast atmosphere, the attitude of the people, the quality of the tucker and the heritage of our newly enlightened patron of the pub, Don set out to create a sauce that captured these elements, to be a best mate of meat and to complement the unique flavours that these premium meats offer! For the next 6 months, in his small kitchen at home, Don produced over 40 different recipes and brews, supported with many a tasting session and a wee tipple with his mates, to eventually hone, refine and settle on the recipe that is now known as Glasseye Creek Wild Meat Sauce”.

“……He was brewing a few bottles here and there for mates who tried it and wanted more. The Little Wanganui Pub then began serving it with most of their meals (not whitebait), and big Dave was using it in his marinades, roast meat gravies, casseroles, stews and pretty much everything he served from his legendary kitchen, which was the home of the famous ‘Fat Bastards Special’”. ~’Our Yarn’, glasseyecreek.co.nz.

The development of the recipe seems to be assisted greatly by good old scotch, so perhaps Don shipped the sauce to his friends in the empty whiskey bottles… and then never stopped using them! If I was a bona-fide foodie, I’d give this saucy stuff all the stars! And then there’s the good bloke; ‘Yoda the Prawn Star’, who’s got a story too!

Max Nikias, Pat Haden, Ron Tutor, Tamara Gustavson and Ed Roski Break Ground on USC's John McKay Center

In front of a festive crowd of more than 400 people, USC officially broke ground today on the new John McKay Center, a $70 million, 110,000-square foot facility on the west side of Heritage Hall that will house meeting rooms, coaches offices and a locker room for the football program, as well as an academic center, weight room, athletic training room and state-of-the-art digital media production facility for all of USC's 21 sports. USC president Max Nikias and Trojan athletic director Pat Haden presided over the ceremony in front of a crowd that included members of the USC Board of Trustees, university deans and administrators, athletic department staff, coaches, student-athletes, donors and fans.

The Trojan Marching Band and USC Song Girls performed. After brief speeches, Nikias and Haden were joined in hardhats by USC Board of Trustee members Ron Tutor, Tamara Gustavson and Ed Roski and the group placed commemorative shovels into the ground.

Construction of the 2-story (plus basement) building is expected to take 18 months.

Thomas Kat Steyer Gift to Stanford Creates Interdisciplinary Center for Energy Policy and Finance

Stanford Law School and the Graduate School of Business today announced the establishment of the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, an interdisciplinary center to study and advance the development and deployment of clean energy technologies through innovative policy and finance. The Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance will be housed at both the Law School and the Graduate School of Business, bringing together the best minds from both disciplines to advance the development, financing, management and regulation of the clean energy technology sector. The center is the latest of Stanford University's efforts to address comprehensively the global energy challenge-from advancing energy efficiency to developing and deploying renewable energy, to reducing the effects of fossil fuels. The center's focus on policy and finance solutions will complement the work of other institutes, as well: the Precourt Institute for Energy; the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy; the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies' Program on Energy and Sustainable Development; and the Stanford Environmental and Energy Policy Analysis Center at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

The center has been made possible by a $7 million gift from Stanford alumni Thomas Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor. Its executive director will be Dan Reicher, who has also been appointed professor of the practice of law at the Law School and lecturer at the Graduate School of Business. Reicher was assistant secretary of energy for energy efficiency and renewable energy during the Clinton administration. A member of President Obama's transition team, he was most recently director of climate change and energy initiatives at Google. He has strong energy and environmental credentials and extensive experience in government, law, business and venture capital, and the non-profit sector.

"We believe that Stanford is uniquely positioned to change our nation's attitudes and capabilities regarding how we make and use energy. What our university did for the information revolution, it must now do for the energy revolution," said Steyer of his and Taylor's gift.

The TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy, a research center within the Precourt Institute for Energy which launched in 2009, was also funded by generous support from Thomas Steyer and Kat Taylor. Steyer is a Stanford trustee and managing partner of Farallon Capital Management; Taylor is active in a variety of public benefit and philanthropic ventures. Steyer founded Farallon in 1986. He is also managing director of Hellman & Friedman, a San Francisco-based private equity firm. He previously worked for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

With a strong base at both Stanford Law School and the Graduate School of Business, the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance will provide a broad platform for research on energy policy and finance-particularly legislative, regulatory and business tools—that increase public support for and the flow of capital to clean energy technologies. It will produce world-class research for policymakers, the business community, and technology leaders to help inform and resolve energy problems at the global, national, state and local levels. It will help coordinate related work being done in Stanford's other centers, schools and departments to enhance teaching, training and research across the campus.

"Energy may be our most pressing public policy problem today," said Stanford Law School Dean Larry Kramer. "Our success in addressing it will determine much about our future—both economically and environmentally. And any solutions require working across disciplines and understanding the critical role of both law and finance in making technological innovations workable. That being so, it is really quite astonishing that there is nothing like this new center on energy policy and finance at any other law school. We are absolutely delighted to launch this collaborative effort with the Stanford Graduate School of Business and expect to make strong contributions to national and global efforts to develop sustainable energy."

By collaborating with the Graduate School of Business, the center will leverage business school expertise to help resolve the challenge of financing clean technologies from conception to market and educate future leaders of managed organizations to incorporate sustainability in operations and strategy. Financing can be exceptionally difficult since clean technology innovations may require billions of dollars to scale up from venture capital-backed pilot projects to commercially financeable production facilities. "Interdisciplinary centers like this help us create the conditions for innovation to flourish, so that faculty and students can help drive solutions to pressing global problems such as creating more sustainable energy systems," said Stanford Graduate School of Business Dean Garth Saloner.

"U.S. and global energy systems are plagued by serious economic, environmental and national security problems," said the center's executive director, Professor Dan Reicher. "In their resolution lie vast opportunities for job creation, pollution control and reduced international tensions. The successful integration of policy and finance is key to addressing these problems and seizing the unprecedented opportunities. We need smart policy to set the stage for fundamental change in our energy systems and innovative finance to make things happen-from early stage innovation to the broad-scale deployment of clean energy technologies. I look forward to helping the center become a catalyst for an environmentally and economically sustainable energy future."

Reicher added, "I'm particularly pleased that Tom Steyer and Kat Taylor are backing the center given their long-standing commitment to clean energy as well as their recent success in building a bipartisan coalition-spanning the business, environmental, environmental justice, and national security communities-that ensured the continued implementation of California's path-breaking climate change program."

Daniel Day-Lewis to Star as Lincoln for Steven Spielberg

Two-time Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis will star as the 16th President of the United States in DreamWorks Studios’ Lincoln to be directed by Steven Spielberg. The announcement was made today by Spielberg and Stacey Snider, Co-Chairman and CEO of DreamWorks Studios. “Daniel Day-Lewis would have always been counted as one of the greatest of actors, were he from the silent era, the golden age of film or even some time in cinema's distant future. I am grateful and inspired that our paths will finally cross with Lincoln,” said Steven Spielberg. "Throughout his career, he has been exceptionally selective in his choice of material," added Stacey Snider, "which makes us feel even more fortunate that he has chosen to join with us for Lincoln."

Based on the best-selling book, Team of Rivals, by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, the screenplay has been written by the Pulitzer Prize winner, Tony Award winner, and Academy Award nominated writer Tony Kushner. It will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg.

It is anticipated that the film will focus on the political collision of Lincoln and the powerful men of his cabinet on the road to abolition and the end of the Civil War.

Doris Kearns Goodwin won her Pulitzer Prize for No Ordinary Time, the story of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the home front in World War II. Kushner's prize was for his play Angels in America, which later became an Emmy Award-winning television special. He had previously worked with Spielberg on Munich for which he was nominated for an Oscar in the Adapted Screenplay category.

Filming is expected to begin in the fall of 2011 for release in the fourth quarter of 2012 through Disney’s Touchstone distribution label.

5th annual James Dyson Award

This summer, regional judges across the world are deciding which student inventions will make it on to the shortlist of the James Dyson Award. Each of the 18 participating countries will name a national winner. The shortlist then goes before a panel of Dyson engineers, and finally James Dyson will announce the 2010 winner in October. Entries have included a buoy that uses ultrasonic technology to warn wildlife away from oil spills, a human powered car battery charger and a bumpless speed bump.

Over 500 ideas from 18 other countries are competing to claim the £20,000 prize.

The award, run by the James Dyson Foundation, aims to celebrate young designers and inspire the next generation of design engineers. Current perceptions of engineering in Britain are reflected in the numbers who study it. There are only 24,000 engineering graduates a year and 58,000 engineering vacancies.

The James Dyson Award works with universities across the globe and will be open for entries from the 2nd February to 1st July 2010. Half of the prize money is invested directly in the winner’s university or college faculty and £10,000 goes directly to the winning students to help them make their design a reality.

James Dyson says: “We need to do more to support and celebrate the engineers of the future. Making things is not about grime and grease, but solving real life problems.”

Out of more than 400 entries, last year’s winner was Automist, an attachment for a kitchen tap that can detect fires and put them out by using mains water to create a fine mist. The project was developed by British students Yusuf Muhammad and Paul Thomas from the Royal College of Art in London.

Yusuf Muhammad comments: “Winning the James Dyson Award has enabled us to transform our idea from a prototype into a viable product – which we’re now close to being able to sell. The Award gave us two advantages – cash and recognition. The prize money has been crucial to keeping our small business going, but the interest we’ve received through coverage has been priceless. We’ve had emails from all around the world, both from big companies and from individuals who want to know when they can get hold of the Automist to install in their kitchen. We’ve just put it through another round of testing at the Building Research Establishment - specialists were impressed by the way our invention tackled fire effectively in such a different way. One of the best things is having the recognition of James Dyson, probably the best known inventor in the country.”

James Dyson will announce the global winner on 5th October 2010.

Michael Dell's new CMO

Congrats abound for Karen Quintos, marketing executive at Dell for more than 10 years, has been named senior vice president and Chief Marketing Officer, reporting to Michael Dell, chairman and CEO. As CMO, Ms. Quintos is responsible for building the company's brand for Dell customers, team members and stakeholders around the world. She leads brand strategy, global communications, social media, corporate responsibility, global research, marketing talent development and agency management.

"Karen's success at Dell has come from her tremendous focus on our customers and her strong understanding of our commercial IT solutions," said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell. "She is a world-class marketing professional and one of our most inspired and engaging leaders, and we are pleased to welcome her to our executive leadership team."

Ms. Quintos was serving as vice president of marketing for Dell's global public business, responsible for driving global marketing strategies, product and pricing programs, communications and channel plans to reach millions of higher education, government and healthcare institutional customers. Previously, she was vice president of marketing for Dell's Americas commercial business and has also held various executive roles in Dell's services, contact center management and supply chain teams.

She succeeds Erin Mulligan Nelson, who is leaving Dell to join Bazaarvoice, a private Austin-based company that provides Software as a Service (SaaS) social commerce solutions.

Ms. Quintos joined Dell in 2000 from Citigroup, where she served as vice president of global operations and technology. She also spent 12 years with Merck & Co., where she served in a variety of roles in marketing, planning, operations and supply chain.

Ms. Quintos holds a master's degree in marketing and international business from New York University and a bachelor of science in supply chain management from The Pennsylvania State University State College. She has served on multiple boards and currently serves on Dell's Hispanic Networking Board and Board of Visitors for Penn State's Smeal Business School.

Tesla In Paris

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) will open its newest showroom Sept. 30 in the heart of Paris, just in time for the 2010 Paris Motor Show. Tesla’s 14th worldwide store, at 41 Avenue Kléber, is walking distance to the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysées, with a view of the Eiffel Tower. The Paris store will serve Tesla owners throughout France, Belgium and the Netherlands – and offer test drives to prospective customers visiting the capital for work or pleasure.

“The Paris store provides an immediate, highly visible presence in one of Europe’s most important cities,” said George Blankenship, Tesla’s Vice President of Design and Store Development. “We want to create stylish, inviting places to buy cars and learn about 21st century vehicle technology.”

Blankenship, who joined Tesla earlier this year, is best known as the architect of Apple’s brand-building retail strategy. Blankenship and other executives will elaborate on Tesla’s exciting retail plans at an Oct. 1 news conference at the Paris Motor Show, including plans for Tokyo and Washington, DC.

Tesla is revolutionizing automobile ownership – starting at the point of purchase. Unlike traditional car dealerships, Tesla stores are designed to be welcoming destinations where people can buy cars and learn about Tesla’s industry-leading technology.

Tesla is also improving the ownership experience through its mobile service technicians, who provide “house calls” and can perform annual inspections, software upgrades and other services at owners’ homes and offices. The unique program gives customers peace of mind and unparalleled convenience – whether or not they live near a showroom.

France, one of Tesla’s top markets in Europe, has aggressively promoted renewable energy development, particularly wind and solar power. The government wants renewable to account for 20 percent of the country’s total energy consumption by 2020. Roadster owners get a waiver of €2.500 in traditional administrative fees and a €5.000 cash rebate.

Roadster owners can park and charge for free at hundreds of charging stations nationwide – one of the world’s most extensive charging networks. But Roadster owners typically just plug their cars into conventional outlets: The Roadster comes with an extension cord that plugs into any outlet, similar to laptops or mobile phones. No special infrastructure is needed.

The Roadster accelerates faster than other sports car in its price class yet has zero tailpipe emissions. It consumes no petroleum and plugs into conventional sockets – at owners’ homes or office parking lots, hotels, resorts and shopping malls. The Roadster, which gets 340 kms per charge, is the only sports car that can be fully or partially recharged by renewable energy.

My Close Encounter with Jim Carrey

A few Saturdays ago in the course of photographing a family in the States, I got to meet, hang out with, and photograph the inimitable Jim Carrey.  The images are private so you’ll never see them.  I can tell you however how much I enjoyed the man.  In my experience Jim Carrey was gracious, candid, totally fun, and fabulous with kids.  Check out his official website at http://www.jimcarrey.com/

Sundance Institute And The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Present Short Documentary Films To Inspire Global Community

Sundance Institute today announced a special collaborative project with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation designed to harness the power of film to create communities and inspire action on issues related to global health, poverty and education. Six short documentary films commissioned by the Institute's Documentary Film Program from award-winning filmmakers Glenn Baker, Teboho Edkins, Mark Monroe, Maren Grainger-Monsen, MD, Nicole Newnham, Jonathan Stack, Ricki Stern, and Annie Sundberg, will become part of a multi-platform communications initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which plans to share the films online and at speeches and public events around the world. For nearly three decades, Sundance Institute has promoted independent storytelling to inform and inspire across political, social, religious and cultural differences. The Sundance Institute Documentary Fund is the pre-eminent global funder of cinematic documentary films committed to excellence in storytelling around human rights, social justice, civil liberties, the environment and other contemporary issues.

Excerpts from selected films will first premiere September 20, 2010 as part of TEDxChange, a live event convened by Melinda French Gates, to mark the 10th anniversary of the creation of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals to improve social and economic conditions in the world’s poorest countries. TEDxChange will look at what advancements have been made since the U.N. adopted its Millennium Goals, and what needs to happen to ensure success for the future. Hosted by TED Curator Chris Anderson at the Paley Center for Media in New York and simulcast in Los Angeles, the 90-minute event will stream live on TED.com and www.tedxchange.org at 11a.m. EDT, with simultaneous satellite events planned in over 50 other communities around the world.

"As longtime admirers of the important work that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is undertaking in some of the poorest regions on earth, and the most challenging sectors here in the U.S., Sundance Institute is honored to collaborate on this important initiative," said Keri Putnam, Executive Director, Sundance Institute. "It is a privilege to partner with them in connecting global audiences with stories from the frontlines of global development, health and education," Putnam added.

Shot on location in Bangladesh, India, Haiti, Kenya, the Congo (DRC), Lesotho as well as the United States, the six commissioned films illustrate personal stories of communities leading vaccination drives; empowering the poor with safe and affordable means to manage their money, success at an urban American charter school and an intimate portrait of parenting while HIV positive.

"Documentary storytelling is incredibly effective at highlighting complex realities by humanizing the issues," said Cara Mertes, Director, Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. "Creating these films with independent filmmakers already exploring the issues that the Gates Foundation addresses has uncovered some extraordinary stories that will help galvanize audiences towards awareness and action."

Louis, The Movie, by Dan Pritzker

Louis, a silent film directed by Dan Pritzker, starring Jackie Earle Haley and Shanti Lowry, will premiere in US cities in late August with live musical accompaniment by Wynton Marsalis, renowned pianist Cecile Licad and a 10-piece all-star jazz ensemble. Marsalis will play a score comprised primarily of his own compositions. Licad will play the music of 19th century American composer L.M. Gottschalk. The group will perform live with the film in a series of special performances in New York City, Chicago, Washington DC, Detroit and Philadelphia. Shot by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond as a modern re-imagining of early silent film, LOUIS is an homage to Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, beautiful women and the birth of American music. The grand Storyville bordellos, alleys and cemeteries of 1907 New Orleans provide a backdrop of lust, blood and magic for 6 year old Louis (Anthony Coleman) as he navigates the colorful intricacies of life in the city. Young Louis’s dreams of playing the trumpet are interrupted by a chance meeting with a beautiful and vulnerable girl named Grace (Lowry) and her baby, Jasmine. Haley, in a performance reminiscent of the great comic stars of the silent screen, plays the evil Judge Perry who is determined not to let Jasmine's true heritage derail his candidacy for governor.

"The idea of accompanying a silent film telling a mythical tale of a young Louis Armstrong was appealing to me,” says Marsalis. “Of course, calling it a silent film is a misnomer -- there will be plenty of music, and jazz is like a conversation between the players so there'll be no shortage of dialogue."

Michele Chan and Patrick Soon-Shiong's Giving Pledge

The philanthropy field is buzzing with stories about the Giving Pledge. Forty billionaires have pledged to give away a majority of their wealth to philanthropy. Michele Chan and Patrick Soon-Shiong are the only Asian Americans on the list. Patrick Soon-Shiong was born in apartheid-era South Africa. He was a son of Chinese immigrants and his father practiced Chinese herbal medicine. Patrick married actress Michele Chan and worked at UCLA School of Medicine. He was involved in developing groundbreaking transplantation techniques to treat diabetes. The technology was used to develop Abraxane, a breast cancer drug made by Abraxis. As Abraxix BioScience Chief Executive, Patrick became a multibillionaire, with the sale of APP Pharmaceuticals.

The couples pledge follows.

Our passion, our mission is to transform health and health care, in America and beyond. Our family foundation was established for that purpose.

Growing up in South Africa during the time of apartheid, we had direct experience of inequality, including great disparities in health and access to good care. After thirty years living in the United States, we see similar disparities in health care on our doorstep in Los Angeles, and across the nation. What was unconscionable to us in South Africa in the twentieth century is just as unconscionable in the United States in the twenty-first.

America has been a land of opportunity for us, as it has for so many immigrants. We are proud to be Americans and we want to see our country strong and healthy. We are blessed to have resources and expertise to contribute.

Our pledge is that, through our family foundation, we will work to erode and eliminate disparities in health care, and to help bring about a system of health care which aims first to keep people healthy, and secondly to ensure that everyone has access to the best quality health care when they need it. We and our children are dedicating our time and our resources to that end.

Tashia and John Morgridge

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge is nothing less than a runaway success. Tashia and John Morgridge have joined this exclusive club and their pledge follows.

"In 1955 we graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, got married and headed west so John could attend the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Tashia could start her teaching career. All of our possessions fit into our 1950 Ford and all of our wealth fit into a back pants pocket. It was the start of a glorious adventure!

But we left the Midwest with much more; with the values, confidence and capabilities learned from our parents, our community, our early public schooling in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and from the University of Wisconsin. Early on we learned the art of giving small checks to causes important to us,. Through hard work, good fortune and the opportunities offered by our amazing country and the world, we have prospered beyond all expectation. As a result, we have been able to add many zeros to the amounts of the checks we are now able to write.

In 1992 we formed a family foundation with our children and the two of us as board members. It has been a learning process, but in spite of heartaches and setbacks, we have all learned to become involved, effective philanthropists. We have teamed with talented people and with many of the organizations that helped to form us. The more personally involved we have become with the causes we support the more effective we seem to be.

Through our foundation and also personally, we have now given away over half our net worth. It is our intent to remain involved and to continue to give. Our children intend to carry on their work after we are gone. The adventure continues."

Intercontinental Family Life

I’m flying to LA today …missing my three girls awfully already… I’m going to miss their first assembly in their new N.Z. school, Where Marlana is going to say ‘My Mom is an American and my Dad is a Kiwi. When we fly to America, at the airport they say to me welcome, to my Dad they say, ‘what do you want, what are you doing here?’…..

When Marlana rehearses her little speech it’s very amusing … My daughters think it’s funny they sail through customs as American citizens and I get asked lots of questions… even though I have a VISA!