currently on the board of My Jets, Inc., a firm that advises
corporations and other organizations about their aviation
needs.Mathilde Krim
Krim received a doctorate from the University of Geneva,
Switzerland, and did research on cytogenetics and cancer-causing
viruses at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. There, she
was on the team that developed the first test for the prenatal
detection of gender. She has also been on the research staff at the
Cornell University Medical School and Sloan-Kettering Institute
for Cancer Research, where she was head of the Interferon labo-
ratory. She was founding chair and chair of the board of directors
of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR). She
has received more than a dozen honorary degrees and numerous
awards for her pioneering work in raising public consciousness
about AIDS, including, in 2000, the Presidential Medal of
Honor, the nation’s highest civilian honor.Norman Lear
A producer, screenwriter, and director and co-founder of
People for the American Way, a 300,000-member civil-rights
organization, Lear was born in 1922 in New Haven, Connecti-
cut. He was educated at Emerson College and served in the Air
Force during World War II. In 1945, he entered the new field
of television as a comedy writer. As a writer-producer, he broke
new ground with such innovative shows as “All in the Family,”
“Maude,” and “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.” A media en-
trepreneur, he is also active in liberal politics, advising political
leaders, and speaking out on civil-liberties issues. In 1984, Lear
was one of the first group of inductees into the Academy ofBiographies0465014088_rm.qxd:0738208175_rm.qxd 1/9/09 2:04 PM Page 235