Albert Lasker
Public Service Award
Jules Stein
For his unique contributions toward the preservation of vision and the restoration of sight.
Dr. Stein is renowned in two fields: as the founder and former chairman of the Board of Directors of MCA, Inc.—a career which alone would have fulfilled the ambitions of most men—and as a humanitarian dedicated to the preservation of one of our most precious possessions, the gift of sight.
A former practicing ophthalmologist, Dr. Stein in 1960, inspired by his wife, Doris, brought his business acumen and a modern dynamic approach to the creation of a new health organization, Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc. (RPB). At that time, the major bottlenecks stifling advances in ocular research were lack of adequate laboratory facilities, lack of research manpower, and lack of both public and private financial support.
Thanks to Dr. Stein, many of these bottlenecks have been broken.
Today there is within the National Institutes of Health a National Eye Institute with a budget of over 40 million dollars. Four RPB-sponsored major eye research centers, associated with medical schools, have tripled the available eye research laboratory space in this country in the last ten years, and two more such centers are under construction. The world-famous Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA and RPB research grants to 50 medical schools have helped to generate a whole new era of accomplishment in the saving of sight.
As a result of all this intensified research and progress, certain eye diseases can now be prevented and treated, thus saving the vision of many people who would otherwise become blind.
For the unique qualities of humanity, philanthropy, and sophisticated zeal that Jules Stein has brought to the effort to prevent blindness, preserve vision, and restore sight, this Albert Lasker Public Service Award is given.