RICHARD G. ROCKEFELLER

ROCKEFELLER--Richard Gilder, M.D. The Rockefeller University community is profoundly saddened by the tragic death of our lifelong friend Richard Rockefeller. Our sense of loss is immense, both for the enormous void left in his adored family and for the world-changing work in which he was engaged that will be left incomplete by his passing. Richard was a member of our University community for more than 30 years and served on our Board of Trustees for two decades. A caring and compassionate family physician in his home state of Maine, he was a superb Trustee who believed passionately in the importance of basic and patient-based research, and in the ability of scientific advances to save human lives. Richard gave generously of his enormous talents to our Board's Hospital and Scientific Affairs Committees, and our Trustees, faculty members, students, and administrators benefited greatly from their interactions with him. A devoted humanitarian, Richard worked to alleviate human suffering and improve human welfare through his longtime service as chair of the U.S. advisory board of Doctors Without Borders and of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, where he carried on the work begun by his father and uncles. Richard was a pioneer in recognizing that the Internet could help doctors and patients share crucial data, with the ultimate goal of improving medical diagnoses and health care delivery--ideas that are routine today, but were prescient when he created the Health Commons Institute in 1994. Although he left our Board in 2006, Richard maintained an active interest in the work of the University. We will miss him very much. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his wife, Nancy; his children, Clayton and Rebecca; his stepsons, Maxwell and Griffin; his three grandchildren; his siblings, David, Abby, Neva, Peggy, and Eileen; and his father, our cherished Honorary Chair and Life Trustee David Rockefeller, who has been a visionary leader and inspiration to all of us at The Rockefeller University for more than 70 years. Russell L. Carson, Chair Marc Tessier-Lavigne, President Paul Nurse, President Emeritus Torsten N. Wiesel, President Emeritus Barry S. Coller, Physician-in-Chief and David Rockefeller Professor