Meet the Chairman of the Jimmy Fund: Larry Lucchino

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute appointed Boston Red Sox President/CEO Emeritus Larry Lucchino as Chairman of the Jimmy Fund in 2016. Lucchino is a longtime supporter, leader, Trustee, and patient of Dana-Farber, which has helped save his life from cancer three times over the past 30-plus years. He was President/CEO of the Boston Red Sox for 14 years, and after the 2015 season, was named Boston Red Sox President/CEO Emeritus. Since 2015, he has been Chairman and Principal Owner of the Worcester Red Sox, the Red Sox minor league affiliate that recently relocated from Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

As Chairman of the Jimmy Fund, Lucchino is the lead ambassador and public spokesperson for the Jimmy Fund to strengthen relationships with the corporate community and professional sports teams, to strategize on policy and fundraising initiatives, and to recognize the Jimmy Fund’s many passionate donors and event participants. Lucchino helps increase awareness of the importance of philanthropic support for Dana-Farber and highlight the breakthroughs and milestones Dana-Farber doctors and researchers have achieved toward finding cures and treatments for cancer as a result of Jimmy Fund support.

"The opportunity to participate in the leadership of the Jimmy Fund is an honor and a duty," said Lucchino.

Lucchino has personally supported many Jimmy Fund fundraising events including the Pan-Mass Challenge, Boston Marathon^® Jimmy Fund Walk, Jimmy Fund Big Ideas Contest, WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon, Boston Red Sox/Jimmy Fund License Plates, and more. Lucchino has also helped spread the Jimmy Fund community further west into Worcester and beyond, helping to start a "Jimmy Fund Night" at Polar Park in Worcester and giving local Dana-Farber patients the opportunity to enjoy games closer to home.

A Dana-Farber Trustee since 2003, Lucchino and Chairman of the Board of Trustees Joshua Bekenstein were also co-chairs of Mission Possible: The Dana-Farber Campaign to Conquer Cancer, which was completed in 2010 and raised $1.18 billion. In addition, Lucchino participates in the Institute's Trustee Philanthropy Committee.

In 1985, prior to his position with the Boston Red Sox, Lucchino, then vice president/general counsel of the Baltimore Orioles, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma at age 40. He chose Dana-Farber, one of the country's leading transplant centers, to receive chemotherapy and an autologous bone marrow transplant. Under the care of Lee Nadler, MD, and the late Emil "Tom" Frei III, MD, Lucchino received a transplant and was in isolation for 38 days. On the day he was released, seeking a return to a normal life, Lucchino attended his first Red Sox game at Fenway Park. John Harrington, then chairman of the Boston Red Sox, arranged for Larry to watch the game from an empty glass-enclosed broadcast booth, given his weakened immune system.

Previous Jimmy Fund Chairmen include much-admired former Red Sox infielder Mike Andrews (1984-2009), legendary Red Sox broadcaster Ken Coleman (1978-1984), and Bill Koster (1948-1977) of the Variety Club of New England, known as "Mr. Jimmy Fund" and one of the three founders of the Jimmy Fund.