When you include the American Institute for Cancer Research in your estate plans, you make a major difference in the fight against cancer.

Corporate Champions who partner with the American Institute for Cancer Research stand at the forefront of the fight against cancer

40 Years of Progress: Transforming Cancer. Saving Lives.

The AICR Lifestyle & Cancer Symposium addresses the most current and consequential issues regarding diet, obesity, physical activity and cancer.

The Annual AICR Research Conference is the most authoritative source for information on diet, obesity, physical activity and cancer.

Cancer Update Program – unifying research on nutrition, physical activity and cancer.

Read real-life accounts of how AICR is changing lives through cancer prevention and survivorship.

We bring a detailed policy framework to our advocacy efforts, and provide lawmakers with the scientific evidence they need to achieve our objectives.

AICR champions research that increases understanding of the relationship between nutrition, lifestyle, and cancer.

Are you ready to make a difference? Join our team and help us advance research, improve cancer education and provide lifesaving resources.

AICR’s resources can help you navigate questions about nutrition and lifestyle, and empower you to advocate for your health.

Stories of Impact

Ernest Robertson's Story: Ernest Robertson, Aerospace Engineer and Cancer Prevention Supporter

After decades of launching satellites into orbit, Ernest Robertson has safely landed into earthbound retirement in Mountain View, CA, his home for 42 years and more recently the home of many well-known tech companies.

With degrees in electrical engineering from MIT, Ernest spent most of his career in the aerospace industry with COMSAT and then Space Systems/Loral, from which he retired in June 2018. He traveled frequently for satellite launches in Florida and French Guiana, where the notorious Devil’s Island penal colony, closed in 1953, lies under the trajectory of the rockets.

Ernest has been a generous donor to AICR for many years. He has recently been taking advantage of incentives to give generously to AICR from his Individual Retirement Account (IRA), while greatly reducing his tax burden.

Because he is over 70 ½, the IRS requires that Ernest withdraw at least a portion (the “Required Minimum Distribution,” or RMD) each year from his IRA. While the RMD is fully taxable, any donations he makes from it to AICR reduce his income for tax purposes. This allows Ernest to satisfy his entire RMD, yet owe taxes on just the amount he keeps for living expenses.

Cancer has fortunately never affected Ernest’s family, though several friends have suffered from it. His wife Betty Joanne died in 2009 from unrelated causes. He has two adult sons, one of whom is the executive chef at his own restaurant in Portland, Oregon, the other of whom works for a tech firm in Silicon Valley.

Ernest runs on the treadmill at his local Y for 35 minutes every day, and works out every other day on ten different machines. He also enjoys traveling and hiking in California’s scenic mountains.

He lauds AICR’s focus on cancer research and education. “What you are doing is good,” he says, particularly our focus on prevention: “part eating, part exercise, and part keeping a healthy weight.”

Thank you, Ernest, for sharing your story and for all your generous support of AICR!

More Stories of Impact

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If you share our passion for cancer prevention and quality survivorship, we would love to hear from you. Whatever your experience has been — whether you are a patient, caregiver, or loved one — AICR would be happy to add your story to this tapestry.

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