San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
POKER PUTS AIDS FUND IN THE CHIPS
James Bond would’ve felt right at home in the glamorous Getty manse as decked-out guys and dolls (including “House of Cards” star
Robin Wright, her co-host Ken Fulk, and model Karolina Kurkova), upped the fundraising ante at amfAR’s Charity Poker Tournament.
The spirited fete featured caviar, Champagne and pro tables in the Gettys’ music room, atrium and atop their covered pool, where card sharks tried their best to bluff opponents.
“I always smile,” said Nicole Lacob (who wed her longtime love, Warriors owner Joe
Lacob, over the summer) of her poker prowess. “It’s very disarming, and no one knows what you’ve got in your hand: You could have a full house or nothing.”
Lacob is also president of the Warriors Community Foundation, which hosts its seventh charity poker tournament in January.
“This new generation of philanthropists doesn’t have the attention span to sit through a long dinner program,” she noted. “So gaming, bowling or an interactive cultural event is exciting. I think this is the next wave of fundraising.”
But still there was a live auction and talking points by Wright, subbing for Aileen Getty ,a dedicated HIV/AIDS activist and trustee of the Foundation for AIDS Research who is HIVpositive.
The charitable organization is in the midst of a new campaign, Countdown to a Cure, a $100 million research initiative to find an HIV/AIDS cure or vaccine by 2020.
Dr. Mervyn Silverman, an amfAR trustee and former San Francisco health director in the early days of the city’s HIV/AIDS crisis, noted that U.S. transmission rates are declining.
“We’re light-years ahead from 30 years ago. But in a population with such high literacy and access-information awareness, even one new infection is disappointing,” Silverman said. “The tragedy is HIV is spreading rapidly in developing nations. And here in the states, women, Latinos and African Americans are feeling the brunt of this disease.”
Bright light: As philanthropist Dede Wilsey took the stage at the Four Seasons Hotel where the Episcopal Impact Fund honored her at its Night of Light fundraiser, the Bohemian Club’s a capella OffBeat Band serenaded her with “Hey, Big Spender.”
The honoree, also president of the Fine Arts Museums board, enjoyed the musical joke as much as 330 guests who raised more than $500K for the fund to provide grants, volunteers and professional support to Bay Area poverty-fighting organizations.
Beaming, Wilsey enthused: “I’m thankful to have participated in so many organizations that mean so much to me, including four-legged causes. It’s so much fun to raise money!”
The Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, bishop of California, led a lively program of tributes by Wilsey’s fellow philanthropists: S.F. Opera Board chairman emeritus Pitch Johnson, FAM trustee Cynthia Gunn and her husband, SF Opera Board chairman John Gunn.
Aside from Wilsey’s wallet-opening wiles ($16.6 million for Grace Cathedral renovations, $3.2 million for Immaculate Conception Academy), she’s a trustee to the Opera, S.F. Ballet and UCSF Foundation. In her spare time, she has spearheaded campaigns for the $22 million Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, the $200 million de Young Museum and the $1.5 billion UCSF Mission Bay Campus.
“A great city depends upon its philanthropists, and that’s why we’re honoring Dede Wilsey,” toasted John Gunn. “She not only gives her treasure, she gives her talent and time, too, improving the arts, music, education and health care. As Episcopal charities’ largest contributor, Dede has helped the diocese expand its scope to strengthen communities.”
Best seller: It was an award-winning lineup at the National Kidney Foundation’s 30th Author’s Luncheon headlined by literary stars Dame Tina Brown, Susan Orlean and Pulitzer Prizewinning author Andrew Sean Greer.
Led by chairwoman Sheila Gordon, with emcee Liam Mayclem, 900 book lovers raised almost $500K for the foundation’s research, advocacy and organ transplant programs.
In conversation with author Tom Barbash,
Brown recalled it was under her Vanity Fair editorship that the magazine debuted “the Donald” nickname.
“We covered the real Donald Trump, which centered on his bankruptcies,” she said. “He also appears in my new book (“The Vanity Fair Diaries”), like a sort of a recurring virus.”
Book Passage owner Elaine Petrocelli sets up shop for the authors with signed copies of their books — a portion of sales benefiting the Kidney Foundation. This year her husband, lawyer Bill Petrocelli, starred, too, with his latest, “Through the Bookstore Window.” Rich Table restaurateur-chefs Sarah and
Evan Rich presented a hilarious dialogue about moving to the West Coast and the debut of their new cookbook, “Rich Table.”
“These are the dishes that came to define our restaurant,” Evan Rich said, joking. “They’re the ones that make it difficult to get a reservation.”
Like his award-winning “Less, A Novel,” Greer delivered a satirical stand-up set, recounting interviews with earnest reporters and his middleschool English teacher. Claiming he’s an author since he’s not particularly funny, cosmopolitan or even kind, Greer had the crowd in stitches.
“People ask me how to become a writer and I tell them: The trick is to not be good at anything else. If you can’t drive or cook or answer a hotel-room phone, you’re on your way,” he said, with a laugh. “But my point is, in all of this, you should donate your kidneys.”