More Millions For Fellowships?

Changes may be afoot in the handling of the Markey Trust. Ever since 1983, a year after Lucille P. Markey, owner of thorough-bred breeding stable Calumet Farms, died in Miami, the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust has been spending about $40 million a year on biomedical research. Markey’s goal was for her foundation to spend both the endowment ($300 million) and its income within 15 years, and quietly go out of business. So far, the foundation has funded biomedical research projects to the tune of approximately $240 million. But as the trustees hit the half-mile pole on the way to their 1997 deadline for spending themselves out of business, they have begun to debate their tactics in the spending race to the wire. In February, the trustees held a brainstorming session to review priorities for the remaining years. Some reportedly argued for dramatically increasing the amounts...

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