Justice O’Connor to be honored for efforts on Alzheimer’s research

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor stepped down from the bench to help tend to her husband’s advancing dementia. Years later, she stepped out of public life because of her own.

O’Connor’s efforts on Alzheimer’s research and public awareness of memory care will be recognized Wednesday as part of the 11th annual Great Ladies Symposium, a virtual event that will help raise money to combat the disease.

Two of O’Connor’s sons will receive the honor on her behalf. Evan Thomas, her official biographer, is scheduled to participate as well. The virtual event begins at 8 a.m. in Arizona.

Justice O’Connor, the former Arizona legislator and first woman on the Supreme Court, was an honorary board member with the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation and brought needed attention to that effort, her son, Jay O’Connor said.

“They wanted to honor her given her involvement in the cause both as a caregiver, initially, for my dad, and now as a person afflicted with dementia,” he said. “My mom witnessed firsthand the terrible impact of Alzheimer’s,

not just the people who suffer from it, but the families as well. She saw her own husband, her mother and her aunt all suffer from Alzheimer’s.”

Like many, she also paid a professional price for it. “My dad’s Alzheimer’s conditions worsened significantly in a short period of time to a level where she felt like she was no longer possible for her to juggle the daily work responsibilities of being a Supreme Court justice with being able to serve as a caregiver for him,” Jay O’Connor said. “It was that tension that led her to step down from the court when she did.”

In 2018, O’Connor issued a public statement announcing she was stepping out of public life because of her own memory issues.

The recognition for Justice O’Connor comes at a moment when the world is learning anew what scientific research can achieve with focus and resources, he said.

“We’re not there as a nation in terms of having committed the research funding and the national will to definitively find a cure for Alzheimer’s,” he said. “My mother started sounding the alarm years ago about the importance of making that sort of a national commitment.”