9/11 VICTIM’S WIDOW & WALL STREET COMRADES RAISE MONEY FOR CHILD’S HEART SURGERY AT NYU MEDICAL CENTER

Benefit Dinner and Wine Auction Raise $40,000 to Sponsor a Child’s Surgery in September

New York, NY- (May 22, 2003) – On Wednesday, May 21, 2003 a benefit dinner and wine auction were held on behalf of Donald Richard Gavagan, Jr., a former bond trader with Cantor Fitzgerald who lost his life on 9/11. His wife, Jacqueline, and 40 of Donald’s Wall Street comrades and friends raised approximately $40,000 in order to sponsor heart surgery in September for a child suffering with congenital heart disease.

Jacqueline established the Donald Richard Gavagan, Jr. Fund in conjunction with Project Kids Worldwide, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide life-saving heart surgery for children from medically underserved countries around the world. Project Kids Worldwide was co-founded in 2001 by Stephen Colvin, MD, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at NYU Medical Center who performed heart surgery on the Gavagans’ son to correct a congenital heart defect less than six months before his father’s death on 9/11.

Since that time, Jacqueline has raised additional funds that were used to sponsor life-saving heart surgery for a 7-year old boy from Kosovo and a 16-year old girl from Nigeria. Creating a legacy in her husband’s memory for their 3 children is of vital importance to Jacqueline. “My husband was so full of life, it is only fitting that his memory continues to save the lives of children in desperate need of heart surgery.”

Dr. Colvin is internationally respected for his expertise and pioneering leadership in the field of cardiovascular surgery on adults and children. He and his team have performed surgery on children from all over the world.


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