Over the heart of Nancy Goodman Brinker '68 LAS, a pink ribbon stands for more than a cause. It stands for her sister.
That sister, Susan Komen, died in 1980, but the memory of her life, her spirit, and her battle and loss to breast cancer has been the guiding force in Brinker's life for decades.
And not only hers.
Nancy Brinker, founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, poses at a Komen Race For The Cure event in Washington, D.C., one of hundreds taking place annually to raise money for and awareness of the disease.
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Millions of people now identify Komen's name with pioneering breast cancer research, with Race For The Cure events and with igniting the national — and international — conversation about the disease, commemorated annually in October with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Those millions would never have heard of Komen without Brinker, founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
In the 22 years since Brinker began the organization, the Komen Foundation has raised about $750 million for breast cancer research, education and patient care. And Brinker herself has become a powerhouse in the drive to increase awareness and research of women's health issues. She was named one of Ladies' Home Journal's "100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century," included in Biography Magazine's "The 25 Most Powerful Women in America" and received the 1995 University of Illinois Alumni Achievement Award.
It's a career more impactful than the former tomboy from Peoria ever could have imagined. As a girl, Brinker wasn't the one in the spotlight. That was her gorgeous, intelligent older sister and best friend, Susan.
Even now, you won't find Brinker basking in the Komen Foundation's success — or taking credit for it. "I think I've been very lucky in my life to light the spark under this movement," she said. "It's amazing what you can get done if you don't care who gets the credit."
But Brinker, now a confident, statuesque woman who looks decades younger than her 57 years, will give credit for raising money and awareness: to colleagues at the Komen Foundation, to the group's 75,000 active volunteers, to hundreds of thousands of contributors. "Everybody who's involved. Everyone," she said. "This is their organization."
But Susan Braun, the CEO and president of the Komen Foundation, has no difficulty praising Brinker. "Nancy has been the driving force behind everything we have done," Braun said. "She brings people together to make sure results happen."
Brinker credits her parents for teaching her about the kind of person she wanted to become. They told her: "You are the stewards of your country. Democracy is not free," Brinker remembered as she sat in her gracious, art-filled home in Palm Beach, Fla. They said the country needed "citizens who take a real interest in shaping and maintaining that democracy."
Those lessons of leadership and social responsibility were first put into practice when Brinker entered the University of Illinois. In addition to her studies in sociology, she served in the Student Senate and was voted president of her sorority house two years running. "I had more extracurricular hours than I had class hours," she said. Those experiences at the University would teach her even more than her academics, she said, lessons on how to organize, promote and lead.
In the years after graduation, Brinker continued to do well. She got a job at Neiman-Marcus department store in Dallas, working her way up from executive trainee to assistant couture buyer. She learned about sales and marketing from company head Stanley Marcus himself. Brinker also married and had a son.
Komen and Brinker
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And then, in 1977, her sister called to say that doctors had found a lump in her breast. One biopsy later, Komen found out that, at age 33, she had cancer.
Over the next three years, Brinker watched her sister battle not only with the disease but with her own body image and the stigma associated with having a serious disease in a private body part. As Komen fought her last battle, she asked Brinker to find a way to help other women fight the illness.
In the process, Brinker learned that breast cancer patients should consult experts immediately, seek second opinions and take an active role in determining their treatments. But back then, breast cancer was hardly a conversation topic, and patients had few outlets for information about the disease. "It was the scarlet letter," Brinker said. "Some people thought it was contagious."
With Komen's plea echoing in her head, Brinker set about changing those attitudes. In the years her sister had been ill, Brinker had divorced. After Komen's death she married Dallas businessman Norman Brinker, who encouraged her as she channeled her energies toward fulfilling her mission.
