What a woman! Mrs. Joan Kroc

It was sadness I heard of the death of Joan Kroc, at age 75 on October 12. What a remarkable, wonderful, vivacious, lively woman, who cared deeply about others, and also had a wonderful playfulness. Picture her dressing up in a Padres uniform, hidden under a large coat, so that she cold surprise everyone by going out to the mound and throwing the first pitch. She was a marvelous story teller, with an infectious sense of humor. I feel incredibly fortunate that my path crossed hers, personally and professionally. For those who have ever asked about the origins of the name "Project Cork" the answer has been "Well, the project has to do with alcohol, put the cork back in the bottle. But the real reason, is that Cork is Kroc spelled backwards."

Project Cork, a medical education program at Dartmouth medical school, and other alcohol efforts at Hazelden, the Betty Ford Center, and Morehouse School of Medicine, as well as public education programs, were in effect the maiden voyage into a involvement into philanthropic work.

This all began, back in the 1970s, when the Kroc Foundation established by her husband, Ray Kroc, was exclusively involved in funding basic research in several areas, that involved illnesses that had touched Kroc family members: diabetes, multiple sclerosis, arthritis . While certainly appreciative of the value of such basic research, nonetheless it was difficult for Mrs. Kroc to get very excited about experiments with mice. Wanting something a bit more directly tied to people, she founded Operation Cork, as an arm of the Kroc Foundation. Certainly not going with what was "in" or "popular, she centered in on alcohol problems, especially as they touched family members. While seemingly very obvious now, at that time the notion that family members would be negatively affected by someone else's drinking was a novel notion.

Being eminently practical, it seemed to Joan Kroc, that if anything was going to be done to address alcohol problems and their impact on families, it was imperative that physicians become better educated, better, informed, and motivated to address their patients' alcohol use. She approached Dartmouth Medical School about establishing such an effort, and within three months, Project Cork had been established. There was a minimum of red-tape, and formality.

Mrs. Kroc brought incredible enthusiasm and gusto to the project as well as a realism that philanthropic work can't be done on the cheap, that standards that apply elsewhere are equally as important in the charitable arena. Thus, it was no surprise at all to have seen year's later that a homeless shelter in her home city of San Diego, had won an award from the American Institute of Architecture for the design. Mrs. Kroc had a deep sense of justice, and respect for those served as well as those whose are staff in social service settings. It would have been absolutely obvious to her that both clients and staff deserved and needed a building that was lovely, functional, and tailored to their needs, rather than being make-shift .

The same kind of thinking was present when it came time to preparing curriculum materials for the medical education project. She was open to the notion that the usual slide show presentation, or what medical students refer to as "talking heads" videotapes of someone standing in front of a blackboard wouldn't do it. Accordingly, the teaching film developed turned out to be a drama, with the emerging alcoholic being a physician. This was directly produced by the foundation. The budget was sufficient to do it "right." The Director was first rate. It was cast with Hollywood/Broadway talent. One of the actors in the next season was starring in a Broadway, Pulitzer-winning play. She has someone from the public relations firm used by McDonalds assigned to the project on a close to full-time basis, to help out! Lo and behold, the teaching film, Our Brother's Keeper was picked up and shown nationally on PBS in prime time. Also, these Cork-produced video/tapes films were the first audiovisual materials ever to be reviewed by the New England Journal of Medicine. The film became a mainstay in medical education as well as being adopted by the AMA, nationally, as well as by state and local medical societies, to address the impaired physician.

It needs to be noted that there were two talented and visionary people at Dartmouth Medical School at the time, James Strickler, the Medical School Dean and Peter C. Whybrow, the chair of Psychiatry, who served as the Project's Director. They were able to figure out what to do with the latitude and trust which Mrs. Kroc extended. And Mrs. Kroc was trusting. When the $1 million dollar check from the foundation arrived to support the continued efforts, after the initial project, it was signed by the secretary. I was always curious as to the upper limit, if any, to the secretary's authorization.

Mrs. Kroc was supportive of a large range of projects in the area of peace and justice. And I have no doubt that she was also an anonymous donor to many more. It was only after her plane was spied in the upper mid-west that she was identified as the anonymous donor in the wake of severe flooding a decade ago. She saw the small things every bit as clearly as larger societal concerns. A telling example was when a colleague and I visited the foundation office in San Diego, supposedly around the details of a quasi-endowment to Dartmouth Medical School, to underpin information services. The formal meeting we were anticipating never quite happened. This was around Mother's Day, and the local paper had published an article that morning on a woman whose infant twins had sleep apnea, and while there was a monitor that would blare out in the night if either baby was affected. Joan was quite concerned about how this poor woman was ever going to get enough sleep. So she had her office staff scurrying around to find out if it were possible to arrange for a nurse to be available evening so this mother could sleep.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Kroc must have placed persons in who worked in development and fund-raising offices in a bind. They prided themselves on never giving money to anyone who asked! Mrs. Kroc particularly was offended at the notion that she wouldn't be able herself to figure out how she wanted to spend her money. As the record amply testifies, her heart was more than sufficient to guide her.