A celebration honoring Dr. Gary W. Goldstein’s 30 years of leadership as Kennedy Krieger Institute’s president and CEO was held on June 26, 2018 at the American Visionary Art Museum.
Nancy S. Grasmick, EdD, chair of the Kennedy Krieger Institute Board of Directors, kicked off the reception with a warm welcome, thanking the more than 150 family members, close friends and colleagues of Dr. Goldstein present for attending and celebrating Dr. Goldstein’s three decades of guiding the Institute with visionary leadership and steadfast commitment to its children and families.
Michael J. Batza Jr., former board chair and a member of the original search committee that hired Dr. Goldstein in 1987, and Howard B. Miller Esq., former board chair, offered moving tributes to Dr. Goldstein.
“Dr. Gary W. Goldstein, [on behalf of] those in the room who had the pleasure of being on your team, and [on behalf of] thousands more who worked with you or were cared for by your staff, thank you!” Miller said. “We are all better people for being part of your team.”
Dr. Guy McKhann—Dr. Goldstein’s mentor and close friend, and a professor of neurology and neuroscience at The Johns Hopkins University—also offered remarks, telling of how, nearly 50 years ago, he first recruited Dr. Goldstein as his resident fellow at Stanford University, and then of how, subsequently, he helped bring Dr. Goldstein and his family from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Baltimore to work at Kennedy Krieger.
The evening unfolded with many special presentations, including a thank-you video featuring a compilation of well wishes and tributes for Dr. Goldstein. A high point of the event was the much-anticipated unveiling of Dr. Goldstein’s official portrait, which will be hung in the lobby of the Institute’s inpatient hospital building, at 707 N. Broadway, alongside the beautiful portraits of Dr. Goldstein’s renowned predecessors: Institute founder and former president Dr. Winthrop Phelps, and former president and immediate predecessor of Dr. Goldstein, Dr. Hugo Moser.
Advancing research, innovation and discovery has been one of Dr. Goldstein’s most intense passions throughout his 30 years at Kennedy Krieger. Several years ago, Dr. Goldstein helped launch an annual Innovation Grant to advance research that might lead to transformative discoveries in neurological and developmental disorders. Grant winners are selected from among Kennedy Krieger researchers through a highly competitive process and receive an award of as much as $100,000 over two years.
The highlight of the evening was the announcement that the Research Innovation Fund, from which the Innovation Grants are distributed, would be renamed as The Gary W. Goldstein Research Innovation Fund and that, to date, more than $1 million in endowed funding has been raised for the fund in Dr. Goldstein’s honor!
The evening concluded with a toast to Dr. Goldstein by Dr. Grasmick. “Tonight, we’ve come together to celebrate a wonderful man who, for 30 years, has written the book on visionary leadership here at Kennedy Krieger Institute. As we say thank you for a job so very well done, our wish for you, Gary Goldstein, is that the next chapter in your life be just as rewarding and successful, … filled with friends and family, happiness and good health.”
To support The Gary W. Goldstein Innovation Research Fund, click here.
