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Mary Pearson with her husband, Roy |
A longtime UNMC supporter, Mary Pearson, died Oct. 1 at age 89. Pearson was the wife of Roy Pearson, a former UNMC Board of Counselors member who died in 2010.
The Pearsons were supporters of UNMC research, donating $200,000 to the University of Nebraska Foundation to support the research of UNMC’s Iqbal Ahmad, Ph.D., professor, ophthalmology & visual sciences.
Dr. Ahmad studies possible treatment for macular degeneration, a condition that causes deterioration of the macula, which is located in the human retina and allows a person to see straight ahead. Roy Pearson suffered from macular degeneration.
Mary Pearson, a noted philanthropist in her hometown of Holdrege, Neb., said in 2007 that it was exciting to support Dr. Ahmad’s research because it “could have such far-reaching effects.”
It was a loss of a true friend. Mary was one of the sweetest souls, compassionate, helpful, and witty. Mary and Roy came into our lives as philanthropists and visionaries, supporting our stem cell research on macular degeneration but became our inspiration and the guiding elders. Their early support during a difficult funding period allowed us to publish our novel findings in the area of regenerative medicine for retinal degeneration and instrumental in getting ~$2.0 million dollar funding from the Lincy Foundation and the current funding from the NEI. Their ongoing support is allowing us to make patient-specific induced pluripotent cells to understand macular degeneration and establishing a proof of principle for treating it by stem cell approaches. We are forever indebted for their support. More than that, we are a grateful to have met and inspired by two wonderful people, who represented the greatest generation of this country.