It is a humbling experience to reach 90 and to have a party and to have friends of the caliber I have. I think what keeps me going is the pleasant activities I have with Drs. Beatriz Pogo [MD, DMSc, Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology at Mount Sinai] and Stella Melana [PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology at Mount Sinai] trying to find and prove that a virus is a factor in human breast cancer. I have no doubt about it, but I’ve got to prove it to others.

But what makes my life really important to me is my wife, because we have 58 years and 10 months of marriage together. And out of that [union] has come five wonderful children, and I have a daughter who came before, and as a happy family, we are indeed joyous.

I’m a very lucky man. I’m lucky to have friends like you. Mount Sinai has treated me well, and I hope that in the course of time, we can leave a legacy of having found the cause of human breast cancer, which will make a difference for women around the world. ■