This dinner was a benefit for the Socrates Program for Emerging Leaders. Jane and Marc Nathanson were honored for their longtime support of the program, and Sue Desmond-Hellmann, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was the featured speaker. The evening’s co-chairs were Laura and Gary Lauder and Bill Resnick and Michael J. Stubbs.



2018 Socrates Benefit Dinner Award Presentation

2018 Socrates Benefit Dinner Conversation

About the Honorees:

 Jane and Marc Nathanson began collecting American Pop Art in New York in the late 1960’s and moved to Los Angeles in 1975. Jane, a practicing psychologist, soon became a founder and trustee of the Museum of Contemporary Art and later, a trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Her interest in art was acquired while growing up in a European family who were prominent impressionistic art collectors. Currently, the Nathansons reside in Los Angeles as well as Aspen, CO, where they established an Artist in Residency program to further the career of emerging young artists.

Their collection ranges from Henri Matisse, a piece from Jane’s parents collection, to Jeff Koons. However, the major emphasis remains on American Pop Art. Their collection includes works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Pablo Picasso, Franz Kline, Cy Twombly, Ellsworth Kelly, Tom Wesselmann, James Rosenquist, Barbara Kruger, Alexander Calder, Ed Ruscha, and Donald Judd, to name a few.

Collecting art and visiting galleries and museums around the world is a passion Jane and Marc share. Marc is founder of Falcon Cable TV and now chairs Mapleton Investments. They have three children: Nicole, Adam, and David, and eight grandchildren. The Nathansons enjoy showing their collection to many groups and visitors to Los Angeles, as they believe living with art is a privilege to be shared.

About the Speaker:

 Sue Desmond-Hellmann is a physician, scientist and business leader, who has devoted her career to improving the human condition. As a pioneer in healthcare for more than 30 years, she’s driven major developments toward the eradication of disease, poverty and inequity. She credits a move to Uganda in 1989 to work on HIV/AIDS and cancer as a turning point. “It was so profound to recognize…that all the learning I had done to become a doctor didn’t matter at all if I didn’t make a contribution,” she says. As Chief Executive Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Desmond-Hellmann leads the organization’s vision for a world where every person has the opportunity to lead a healthy, productive life. She joined the foundation in May 2014 from University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she was Chancellor and Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor. Dr. Desmond-Hellmann spent 14 years at Genentech, developing two of the first gene-targeted cancer therapies. In 2010, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and elected to the Institute of Medicine. She serves on the board of directors at Facebook Inc. and is the recipient of numerous honors and awards.