San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Lawyer led stem cell research to find cure for son’s diabetes
Susan L. Solomon, whose frustration over lags in finding a cure for her teenage son’s Type 1 diabetes prompted her to establish what became a leading independent stem cell research laboratory, died Sept. 8 at her home in Amagansett, N.Y. She was 71.
The cause was ovarian cancer, according to her husband, Paul Goldberger, a former architecture critic for the New York Times and the New Yorker.
In 2005, Solomon abandoned a successful career as a lawyer, new media entrepreneur and management consultant to join Mary Elizabeth Bunzel, a former journalist, in founding the New York Stem Cell Foundation, of which Solomon was chief executive for 17 years, stepping down only recently.
The foundation’s goal is to accelerate cures for major diseases through stem cell research, and its lab, the New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute, on West 54th Street in Manhattan, which describes itself as the largest independent stem cell research lab in the country. It has been credited with making inroads against Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, neurodegenerative diseases and vision loss, as well as mitochondrial disease in pregnant women, which can lead to stunted growth, kidney disease or neurological disorders in their offspring. Susan Lynn Solomon was born Aug. 23, 1951, in Brooklyn. Her father, Seymour, founded Vanguard Records with his brother Maynard. Her mother, Ruth (Katz) Solomon, was a pianist and manager of concert musicians.
After graduating from the Fieldston School in the Bronx, Solomon earned a bachelor’s degree in history from New York University in 1975 and a law degree from Rutgers in 1978.
Her eclectic career began at the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York. She left the law firm in 1981 to become counsel and director of business affairs for Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment. She later worked for United Satellite Communications; CBS Films; Sotheby’s, where she was CEO of its first effort to create an online auction platform; and Lancit Media, a producer of TV programming for children, where she was also CEO. In 2000, she established and ran Solomon Partners LLC to provide strategic management consulting
Her marriage in 1968 to Gary Hirsh, the drummer for the band Country Joe and the Fish, ended in divorce. She married Goldberger in 1980.
In addition to her husband, Solomon is survived by three sons, Adam Hirsh, from her first marriage, and Ben and Alex Goldberger; and six grandchildren.