Emory
Eye Center Receives $3 Million Bequest From Stanley Whitaker, Late
Newspaper Executive
(ATLANTA) The
Emory Eye Center recently received a bequest of more than $3 million
from the estate of Stanley Whitaker and his wife, Myrna Newell Whitaker.
A longtime newspaper man and former resident of Atlanta (Cobb County),
Mr. Whitaker made the gift through a living trust to foster research
and treatment of eye disease. To honor Mr. and his wife, the Eye Center
has created the Louis Stanley and Myrna Newell Whitaker Endowment Fund.
Mr. Whitaker died at 100
years of age in 1999 at his residence in Vero Beach, Fla., In his illustrious
journalistic career he was an executive with United Press International
(UPI) at offices in Kansas, Denver, Dallas and Chicago. By 1935 he was
the Southeast division manager of UPI in Atlanta and served in that
position for more than 21 years, retiring in 1956.
Mr. Whitaker is well known
in Atlanta for having bought the Marietta Daily Journal (MDJ) in 1948
from William Lloyd Harris, along with UPI associate Brooks Smith. Several
years later, they merged the newspaper with Brumby Press and the weekly
Cobb County Times. The company, Neighbor Newspapers, now publishes the
MDJ and 29 other suburban newspapers in the Atlanta metro area.
After his retirement in the
mid-1950s, Mr. Whitaker became a media broker for Blackburn Company,
a firm that sold newspapers, radio and television stations.
Because of his concern and
interest in eye care and vision, Mr. Whitaker wanted his gift to benefit
research and new treatment for people who have vision problems. Already
a philanthropist, his interest in illiteracy aptly combined with his
interest in vision problems to create this major gift for the Emory
Eye Center.
Thomas M. Aaberg Sr., MD,
director of the Emory Eye Center says, "We are most grateful for this
generous gift from Stanley Whitaker. It is particularly gratifying that
he chose Emory, one of the country's most prestigious Eye Centers, as
the recipient of his largess."
"This generous gift from
Mr. and Mrs. Whitaker will greatly assist our faculty at the Emory Eye
Center as they continue their leadership in uncovering answers to complex
eye diseases and developing innovative treatments for care," says Emory
School of Medicine Dean Thomas J. Lawley, MD. "With the help of this
funding, we anticipate exciting discoveries, building and expanding
the Eye Center's already laudable track record of success."
Note to editors: Digital
photography is available by calling 404-778-3711.
Cutline: At the recent luncheon
honoring the Whitaker Endowment Fund, Thomas M. Aaberg Sr., MD, director
of the Emory Eye Center (in center) with Otis Brumby Jr. (on left) and
Tread Davis (on right), representatives of the Neighbor Newspapers and
longtime associates of Mr. Whitaker.
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