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IN MEMORIAM
Jenifer Estess, Who Fought Lou
Gehrig's Disease, Dies at 40 The cause was amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A.L.S., as Lou Gehrig's disease is formally known, her sister Valerie Estess said. Ms. Estess was told in 1997 that she had the condition, a degenerative disease of the nerve cells that control muscular movement. It affects 30,000 Americans and is usually fatal within two to five years. With friends and family members, Ms. Estess set up Project A.L.S., and, calling on her experience as a producer, she raised more than $17 million and brought together scientists from different laboratories to cooperate in the search for a cure. The foundation paid for investigations into genetics, stem cells, gene therapy, accelerated drug testing and disease pathways. Some new approaches may help those with related conditions, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, as well as brain and spinal cord injury, her sister said. Jenifer Greer Estess was born on Feb. 17, 1963, in Moline, Ill., and grew up in Harrison, N.Y. After graduating from New York University with a major in drama, she worked as an actor. She helped found and was producing director of Naked Angels, a Manhattan theater company. She then worked in public relations and helped found the Nantucket Film Festival and the New York Women's Film Festival. Project A.L.S. has staged benefits involving show business celebrities in New York and Los Angeles, and in 2002 it arranged for Project A.L.S. Day at 14 major-league baseball stadiums. At each event, a celebrity read Gehrig's famous farewell speech, in which he declared to Yankee fans that he considered himself "the luckiest man on the face of the earth." In 2001, Ms. Estess produced a movie for CBS television called "Jenifer" that told her own story. That year, she was named Glamour magazine's Woman of the Year. Next May, HBO is planning to show a documentary about her. The publication of her memoir, "Tales From the Bed: On Living, Dying and Having It All," is scheduled for May. Project A.L.S. will continue, Valerie Estess said. In addition to her sister Valerie, who lives in Manhattan, Ms. Estess is survived by her mother, Marilyn R. Estess, of Rye, N.Y.; her other sisters, Alison Estess of Manhattan and Meredith Hulbert of Harrison; and her brother, Noah, of San Diego. Copyright 2003, The New York Times |
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