U.S. Postal Service to Issue Stamp Honoring Watertown Native

What:
Mary Woodard Lasker, born in Watertown, WI, will be honored on a 78-cent postage stamp as part of the Distinguished Americans series. A First-Day-of-Sale ceremony to honor Lasker will take place at her childhood home.

Who:
Ron Krueger, Watertown Mayor
Maurice Wozniak, President of the Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs
Randall Roeseler, Executive Director of the Watertown Chamber of Commerce
Susan Dascenzo, Director of the Watertown Main Street Program
Bill Janke, Local Historian
David Martin, USPS Lakeland District Manager

When:
Friday, May 15, 2009
10:30 a.m.

Where:
Lampe Home (Woodard Lasker Childhood Home)
400 N. Washington Street
Watertown, WI

Background:
Mary Woodard Lasker (1900-1994) was a philanthropist, political strategist, and ardent advocate of medical research for major diseases. Lasker persuaded the nation’s leaders to adopt dramatic increases in public funding for biomedical research, and her efforts helped make cancer research a national priority. She was born on November 30, 1900, in Watertown, WI, to Frank Elwin Woodard, a banker, and Sara Johnson Woodard, a homemaker. Her mother engaged in civic causes, campaigning for the establishment of public parks and instilling in Mary a lifelong interest in urban beautification.

She served on numerous public health advisory boards. Especially passionate about the fight against cancer, she led the reorganization and growth of the American Cancer Society and established its research program; advocated more aggressive applied cancer research, including chemotherapy; and became the driving force behind the National Cancer Act, which launched the national “war on cancer” in 1971. As a result of her work, she became one of the most influential laypersons in medical research in the 20th century.

In addition to her advocacy of health-care research and funding, she is remembered as a prominent patron of urban beautification. She supported projects that included planting hundreds of thousands of trees and flowers, many of which she personally donated. As a tribute to Lasker’s work, a pink tulip was named for her during the 1980s.

In 1969, Lasker was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, and she received a Congressional Gold Medal in 1989.

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