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Date Posted: 21:51:25 10/23/02 Wed
Author: Kathy
Subject: Please read...

Alfred Lerner: 1933-2002

The Cleveland Browns announce that their Owner Alfred Lerner passed away tonight.

"The Browns have suffered a great loss," the Cleveland Browns announced. "Al Lerner was a remarkable man - exceptionally devoted to his family, a tremendously compassionate person, and a trusted and valued friend. He was the embodiment of courage, humanity, leadership and patriotism, and he will be sorely missed. His love for this great city was exemplified by his deep commitment to the people of Cleveland. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family."

The National Football League awarded Lerner the Cleveland Browns franchise on Sept. 8, 1998, with the formal transfer of ownership from the Browns Trust to Lerner and Carmen Policy occurring on Oct. 23, 1998. "We consider the ownership of the Cleveland Browns to represent a very serious responsibility," Lerner said at the time. "We will work very hard to make the people of Cleveland and Northern Ohio proud of their football team."

Lerner was especially well known for his generous contributions to and leadership in Cleveland's healthcare and educational communities as well as for his numerous charitable actions that have made a major impact throughout Cleveland. "I love helping people," Lerner said recently. "It vindicates what I have been working for all these years. I have always wanted to leave a legacy in the field of medicine, where I can have some contribution in both furthering and developing new research along with helping sick people to get better treatment. That is what I hope my legacy is going to be, not just that I made a bunch of money."

Lerner and his family recently donated $100 million to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation to support its school of medicine for medical research that will be operating in conjunction with Case Western Reserve University. "We will make people well that would not have been well if it were not for us, and we will kill and cure diseases that would still be out there if it were not for us," Lerner said in explaining his reasoning behind the donation. Lerner also served as president and trustee of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation where the Lerner Research Institute is working on new treatments for cancer, coronary artery disease and AIDS. At University Hospitals, where his wife, Norma, is a trustee, there is also the Lerner Tower, a 210-bed state-of-the-art
hospital building.

Lerner served as chairman and chief executive officer of MBNA Corporation (NYSE), the largest independent bank lender through credit cards in the United States, with more than 20,000 employees worldwide including 2,000 in the greater Cleveland area. Lerner also served as chairman and chief executive officer of Town and Country Trust (NYSE; 17,000 residential apartments) and was chairman of the NFL Finance Committee, which is one of the most important and influential committees in the League.

Lerner also helped create the Cleveland Browns Hero Fund to aid one family each from the New York City Fire and Police Departments who suffered the loss of a parent during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The Browns worked directly with the New York City Fire and Police Departments in adopting the families of Police Officer Moira Smith and Firefighter Brian McAleese. The team will assist the Smith and McAleese families in the form of annual payments until the youngest child in each family turns 18. In addition to the financial pledge, the Browns have "adopted" the children and will bring them to games in Cleveland and have them join the team at one away game each year. The Browns will also offer internships to the children, involve the families in holiday gift giving and maintain year-round contact. "These are people who dedicated their lives to service to their communities," Lerner said of Moira Smith and Brian McAleese, "and they paid a very high price for that dedication on Sept. 11th. We wanted to show that we appreciate it and that they are not alone, and we would not ever let them be alone."

In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Lerner to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB). The PFIAB provides advice to the President concerning the quality and adequacy of intelligence collection, of analysis and estimates, of counterintelligence, and of other intelligence activities. The PFIAB, through its Intelligence Oversight Board, also advises the President on the legality of foreign intelligence activities. The PFIAB currently has 15 members selected from among distinguished citizens outside the government who are qualified on the basis of achievement, experience and independence.

Lerner, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1955-57 (achieving the rank of 1st LT.), was a vice chairman and trustee of Columbia University, a trustee at Case Western Reserve University and New York Presbyterian Hospital, and was a director of the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Association. Norma Lerner is a trustee of the Musical Arts Association (which supports the Cleveland Orchestra).

Lerner was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1951 and obtained a B.A. from Columbia College in 1955. He and his wife, the former Norma Wolkoff, have two children and seven grandchildren.

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