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Alfred, I believe one of the Flexners, who were considered very knowledgeable at the time about the status of medical research. It was true that there was practically no research in the field of ageing or diseases that come with ageing, such as arteriosclerosis and cancer, or come largely with ageing, or they are the greatest cause of death in people over 50. As people get older they more and more tend to die of these two diseases. I mean by arteriosclerosis both arteriosclerosis of the heart, the brain in the form of stroke, and peripheral vascular arteriosclerosis in the form of blocked arteries.

But in addition to the interest of these men surrounding Mr. Lasker, was there any personal tragedy in his life which incited him to give money for this cause?

Well, I think he got interested in the idea because there were these two men who had persuaded him that there was very little being done on the subject of the aged and the ageing processes, and very few people were thinking about the problem in the medical research field at this time. In fact, there was very little medical research such as we know now going on.

One of his brothers did die of cancer in the early '30s, I believe. I don't think it was as early as '28, but it may have been; but in any case, he was moved by the idea. However, after he had given the money and gotten a promising doctor,