The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s Fourteenth Annual Connoisseur’s Event Honors the Dolby Family with the Chairman’s Award

The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), the only nonprofit solely devoted to finding new drugs to prevent, treat and cure Alzheimer’s, presented its Fourteenth Annual Virtual Connoisseur's Event on Monday, May 10. The event raised over $1.3 million to advance the ADDF’s mission.

Special guests included opera legend Andrea Bocelli, philanthropist Dagmar Dolby and her son David Dolby of Dolby Family Ventures, ADDF Co-Chairmen and Co-Founders Leonard A. and Ronald S. Lauder, Emmy award-winning journalist Paula Zahn, and Michael Macaulay of Sotheby’s, who gave an advanced preview of the art from their spring auction.

Connoisseur’s Dinner Founding Chair Nancy Corzine opened up the event with the story of how she and Leonard Lauder first created the dinner to be the ADDF’s signature event 14 years ago, adding, “The greatest gift I’ve been given is the honor to be the first board member of ADDF and then to be the first board president.”

During the special evening that commemorated the origin and history of the foundation, Randal Sandler, Co-Vice Chair and Secretary of the ADDF’s Board of Governors, described this year’s event as a “nod to our past and an exciting glimpse of our future.” Mr. Sandler also provided an update on exciting developments in new therapeutic approaches for treating Alzheimer’s, with a focus on several phase 2 clinical trials that are exploring novel targets for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, as well as discussing the advancements being made with diagnostic tests.

ADDF board member and nine-time Emmy award-winning journalist Paula Zahn interviewed ADDF co-founders, Leonard A. and Ronald S. Lauder. Mr. Leonard Lauder expressed his optimism, saying, “We’ve made progress every year and every day. It’s not going to happen overnight, but we are en route!” Mr. Ronald Lauder emphasized the importance of prevention, saying, “Being able to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s will have a huge impact.” The ADDF currently supports 19 active prevention trials and invests in biomarkers and diagnostic tools that can be used to determine the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s and help to improve clinical trial design.

In keeping with tradition, there was an exclusive preview of the spring auction from ADDF featured partner Sotheby’s presented by Michael Macaulay, Senior VP at Sotheby’s. A variety of artwork by legendary artists was shown, including pieces by Roy Lichtenstein, Claude Monet, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Paul Cézanne.

Guests were treated to a performance by opera legend and Alzheimer’s advocate Andrea Bocelli, who dedicated his performance of Ave Maria to the millions of patients and caregivers battling Alzheimer’s in a special message from him and his wife, Veronica Berti Bocelli.

Philanthropist Dagmar Dolby and her son David Dolby, who is also an active technology investor and CEO of Dolby Family Ventures, are long-time supporters of the ADDF and were honored for their remarkable leadership and commitment to defeating Alzheimer’s.

The Dolbys accepted the 11th Chairman’s Award on behalf of the thousands of researchers “willing to live with a sense of uncertainty, to work in the darkness, and to work towards an answer.” Mrs. Dolby added, “They are the heroes that I – that all of us – are deeply indebted to.” Mr. Dolby shared that Dolby Family Ventures is how he honors his father, Ray Dolby, Founder of Dolby Laboratories, and that “if he were here today, he would be even more excited about supporting this type of research, and I feel very proud to represent him in that type of way.”

You can watch the event recording here.