City of Hope’s original campus in Duarte took care of entrepreneur and philanthropist Emmet Stephenson Jr.’s wife Toni when she was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2013.
The cancer treatment and research center helped cure her before they were blindsided by pancreatic cancer, an even deadlier form of cancer, seven years later.
In 2020, Emmet and his daughter Tessa Stephenson Brand lost the most important person in their life, spurring them to “turn their grief into action,” Tessa said.
The two last week donated a historic $150 million gift to City of Hope, the single-largest gift in the organization’s 111-year history, to further pancreatic cancer research in honor of Toni.
“We feel that because there’s been so little progress in treating pancreatic cancer, it’s one of the deadliest cancers of them all,” Stephenson told the Business Journal.
Executives at the City of Hope Orange County, which is spending $1.5 billion to build a hospital, clinic and other facilities, said the gift will create opportunities in Orange County, which has the second-highest rate behind Los Angeles of pancreatic cancer cases in California.
Pancreatic cancer, currently the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths, is projected to become the second leading cause of death by 2030.
“It’s a big epidemic proportion problem in cancer,” City of Hope Physician-in-Chief Dr. Edward Kim told the Business Journal. “But we know at some point we will be able to find that tipping point where we can turn the tables on this cancer.”
City of Hope plans to create a biorepository, or a facility that stores samples for lab research, with the gift. It will collect tissue, blood, saliva and stool samples from patients ranging from early stage to late stage to further understanding of pancreatic cancer biology.
The gift is equivalent to nearly two-thirds of the total annual research budget for pancreatic cancer from the National Cancer Institute, according to officials.
Part of the gift also establishes an international $1 million Stephenson Prize that will be awarded annually beginning next year to any scientist or team making advancements in the field.
The Stephenson family gift will expand collaborative efforts aimed at saving more lives not just in Orange County but also internationally, according to City of Hope Chief Executive Annette Walker.
“This gift is not an internal City of Hope gift,” Walker said. “It’s meant for the entire country, entire world, to find the best and brightest and work together.”
Kindergarten Sweethearts
Emmet and Toni, who met in kindergarten, were married for 53 years. They lived together in their home at Boulder City, Nevada, where Emmet still resides.
Emmet, senior partner of private equity firm Stephenson Ventures, said he and Toni built the business straight out of college “from ground zero together as equal partners.”
The business has made over 200 private investments in venture capital and private equity over the last 50 years, according to Emmet. Under its umbrella of services includes investment management and internet publishing.
“Our investment business has carried us into lots of industries,” Emmet said. “Now it seems appropriate that we reinvest the good fortune that we’ve had over the years in business and try to eradicate pancreatic cancer.”
The initial conversation to become involved in advancing pancreatic research began four years ago after Toni’s passing. Tessa and her father wanted to make it so no one had to go through the same pain they were experiencing at the time.
“I believe we approached it in a way where, even though pancreatic feels like an impossible problem to solve, why not try?” Tessa said.
She said they wanted to use their business acumen to find a creative solution to the lack of research on pancreatic cancer.
Tessa in 2002 graduated from the University of Southern California in cinematic arts and founded Tessa Lyn Events, a Brentwood wedding and event planning company in 2012.
Apart from business, the family has been involved in a wide range of philanthropy at both City of Hope and other institutions.
After TonI received treatment at City of Hope, the family gave $10 million to fund the creation of the Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center following a $1 million gift to support T-cell lymphoma research, the same form of blood cancer that Toni was treated for at City of Hope.
The Stephensons donated another $10 million to USC for the Stephenson Family Personalized Medicine Center at the Keck School of Medicine. USC Professor of Medicine David Agus advised in developing a treatment regimen for Toni and recommended an experimental medicine that helped her go into remission.
Emmet and Toni also made a $25 million gift to their alma mater Louisianna State University in 2007, which created the Stephenson Disaster Management Institute. The gift was inspired by seeing the school’s relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Finding a Tipping Point
Of all the calls about cancer that Walker receives on a daily basis, she said the ones involving pancreatic cancer scare her the most.
Part of the fear around pancreatic cancer is the struggle to detect it early.
It’s a difficult cancer to diagnose due to the pancreas’ deep location in the body surrounded by internal organs.
“It is in a group of cancers in which we seem to be making very marginal progress over the decades,” Kim said.
Kim said that researchers across the country will be able to contribute and access this biorepository through a fellows program that’s also being established by the gift.
The funding is already being used to advance City of Hope’s existing phase one and phase two clinical trials, which are studying different drugs and techniques to help people with pancreatic cancer.
In addition to the $1 million Stephenson Prize, there will be an annual symposium bringing together experts from around the world that’s set to be held next year as well.
Donation Gives Hope to OC Patient
Jacqueline DuPont-Carlson is one of 170 patients being treated for cancer at City of Hope Orange County’s Lennar Foundation Cancer Center in Irvine.
She has been diagnosed with two cancers in just six months: breast cancer in March and Stage 1B pancreatic cancer a few months later.
DuPont-Carlson has been seeing an integrated oncologist in Irvine and an oncologist for a clinical trial at the Duarte campus.
DuPont-Carlson this year was featured in the Business Journal’s OC50: The Giving 50 highlighting entrepreneurs who made major contributions to nonprofits.
She is the founder and former chief executive of Assured In-Home Care Inc. and Irvine Cottages Memory Care, which began as part of DuPont Residential Care. In 2020, she donated Irvine Cottages to nonprofit Alzheimer’s Orange County to expand housing for older adults suffering from the disease.
Her husband Marc Carlson, also featured in this year’s OC50, is a veteran tech executive and managing director at public relations firm 3 Points Partners.
Dupont-Carlson has more than 30 years of experience as a gerontologist in senior care and has been adjusting to being the patient opposed to the caregiver.
She said she found City of Hope through friends and colleagues who recommended it to her.
“It was really important to me that it was a certified cancer center and had clinical trials,” DuPont-Carlson told the Business Journal.
She has a difficult time with chemotherapy, experiencing severe symptoms of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. DuPont-Carlson said her doctors at City of Hope pull from studies to try to improve her treatment, such as having her chew ice during chemo.
“They’re all there focusing on me for an hour trying to figure out how can we make it better,” DuPont-Carlson said.
She is hopeful that the $150 million gift from Emmet Stephenson Jr. and his daughter Tessa Stephenson Brand, announced last week, will help save more lives.
“Pancreatic cancer is a very unknown, underfunded, orphan cancer that doesn’t have the acknowledgement and research that is so needed,” DuPont-Carlson said. “So, on a personal level, I am so grateful to the Stephenson family.”
