Philanthropist Lois Pope’s latest donation — $10 million — went to further Alzheimer’s research at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine last month. Pope’s daughter Lorraine, 51, succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease last year. Photo provided by Laura Massa/CAPEHART
By Tao Woolfe
Sometimes a philanthropist chooses a cause to support, and sometimes pain drives the choice.
No one knows this better than Lois Pope, world-renowned philanthropist, Manalapan resident, primary heir to the National Enquirer fortune, and a mother who lost her youngest daughter to Alzheimer’s disease last year.
Heartbroken, Pope donated $10 million to further Alzheimer’s research at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine last month. The gift will finance the Lois Pope Laboratory Wing in Memory of Lorraine Pope.
“Alzheimer’s is an insidious disease,” Pope said. “Knowing how it robbed my daughter of any recognition of who I and other family members were, and who she herself was, couldn’t have been more heartbreaking.”
Lorraine Pope was born with Down syndrome. She nevertheless thrived at Cedars of Marin, a special facility in Ross, California, according to published reports. She joined the family for vacations around the world. She died last year at age 51.
“My daughter suffered for a number of years with Alzheimer’s disease,” said Pope, who is 92. “It was very difficult and very sad. I can’t think of anything more devastating to a mother than watching her daughter dying like that.”
Besides Alzheimer’s, university staff will study other neurological and neurodegenerative diseases and disorders, including ALS and Parkinson’s.
Pope’s gift builds on other donations to the university, including one for $10 million in 2000 to establish the Lois Pope Life Center. The center houses the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, which researches and treats spinal cord injuries.
Often a personal experience will suggest — or deepen — Pope’s commitment to a cause.
For example, Pope was moved to initiate the Miami Project’s spinal cord research after her friend Christopher Reeve, the actor, was paralyzed in a horseback riding accident in 1995.
Another $12 million went to Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in 2018 because Pope’s mother suffered from macular degeneration.
And in describing her ongoing concern for disabled veterans, Pope tells this story:
Back in the 1960s, Pope was a Broadway performer. While giving a holiday benefit for patients at the Rusk Rehabilitation Hospital in New York, she sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
When she got to the line, “Hold my hand and I’ll take you there,” she reached out to a soldier in the front row, but stopped when she realized he could not take her hands. He had no arms.
“After the performance,” she said, “I went over to talk to him. He shared with me that he had lost his arms from fighting in the Vietnam conflict. In fact, everyone in the audience was a disabled Vietnam veteran. … I promised all of them that if I ever had the resources, I would do something big and memorable for them, to honor their sacrifice.”
Pope became a full-time philanthropist after the 1988 death of her husband, Generoso Paul Pope Jr., founder of the National Enquire. Lois and Generoso had supported a number of charities together, most of which focused on children, animal welfare, art and community health. The couple had four children.
Lois Pope further winnowed her favorite causes into four categories — projects for disabled veterans, children, medical research and animal health.
Her role models were her husband, who was a generous philanthropist in his own right, and her mother, who always set aside a little something for those in need.
“I grew up in Philadelphia amid the Great Depression,” Pope said. “My grandfather owned a small auto parts store, and my father worked there. My mother was a teacher.
“Times were tough, and we didn’t have much. But I can still vividly recall my mother saving coins in a jar so that when people came to the door looking for a donation … she would have a little change to give them.”
W. Dalton Dietrich III, scientific director for the Miami Project, said Pope’s largesse gives hope to those in need.
“Lois Pope’s generosity has touched so many lives all over the world,” Dietrich said. “We could not be more grateful for her continued belief in, and support of, the basic and translational research we conduct in the Lois Pope Life Center.”
Pope says she thoroughly enjoys her role as philanthropist.
“It has been my life’s privilege to have the resources and passion to do this,” Pope said. “It brings me great joy and satisfaction.
“I say to young people: ‘Find your purpose and pursue it. Yes, you want to do well in life, but it is equally important to also want to do good in life.’”
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