HSCI Executive Director Brock Reeve, HSCI Co-directors David Scadden and Doug Melton, Ed Grossman, and HSCRB Executive Director M. William Lensch (left to right) at the unveiling of the renamed meeting center in June.
Edmund “Ed” Grossman wasn’t a science-focused person. An English major at the University of Connecticut in the 1950s, he went on to Harvard Business School and built a career in the world of advertising and retail. For many years, he served as founder, president, and CEO of Marketing Resource, a company involved in the wholesaling of closeout merchandise and remainder books. But when cancer struck, he and his late wife Arlene found comfort (and lasting friends) in the world of medical research.
Their names now line the walls outside a multi-purpose hub on the third floor of the Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology’s Sherman Fairchild Laboratory, renamed in recognition of a $1 million commitment to Harvard’s stem cell science initiatives.
The “Edmund and Arlene Grossman Meeting Center” is the heart of the department, where stem cell scientists—from undergraduates to senior investigators—meet to discuss work over coffee, conduct work - shops, and foster interactions that support collaboration.
“Besides cancer, there are a couple of other ‘C’ words in the medical research lexicon that are of a great interest to me,” said Ed Grossman. “One is curiosity and the other is collaboration, which is why the meeting center seemed to be an appropriate way to be memorialized.”
Honoring Arlene Grossman, who died from breast cancer more than two years ago, the gift will also aid HSCI in expanding its Cancer Program, as well as in hastening translational research to prevent and treat a range of other conditions.
Ed Grossman sees enormous potential economic benefits from investing in stem cell research, which could lead to the reduction or even elimination of costs associated with managing many chronic diseases. His main motivation for giving to organizations like HSCI, however, remains more personal. “Going through a ravaging disease with my wife touched me very deeply,” he said. “I would like, if at all possible, to see the pain and suffering that Arlene experienced, alleviated or prevented for as many people as possible.”