ITHACA, N.Y. -- Ceremonies on Sept. 11, 2003, at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine gave a name to the school's program to study cancer in humans as well as animals -- the new Isidor I. and Sylvia M. Sprecher Institute for Comparative Cancer Research.

The institute name acknowledges a major gift from Isidor Sprecker, a 1939 DVM graduate of the college, and his wife, Sylvia, a teacher and author. The Spreckers changed the spelling of their name to clarify its pronunciation but have preserved the original spelling, Sprecher, for their gifts. An earlier gift from the Spreckers added their name to that of an 1800s governor of New York state, creating the Roswell P. Flower-Isidor I. and Sylvia M. Sprecher Library and Resources Center.

Among participants at the cancer institute dedication were Cornell President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes and his wife, Rosa, and Donald F. Smith, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine. Rhodes thanked the Spreckers by noting that their investment "models what Cornell does best -- gather people in around a common interest." The Sprecher Institute, Frank Rhodes said, "will be a jewel in the Cornell crown. As a cancer survivor, I thank you for your enormous generosity."

Isidor Sprecker replied, "I hope others will benefit from the institute and emulate what we have done to help make Cornell great."

Rodney Page, professor of clinical sciences and director of the Sprecher Institute, said the program "takes basic discoveries through all the testing and evaluations that will make them viable in controlling cancer. Comparative cancer research," Page said, "brings together basic cancer biology, clinical treatment, cancer education and a growing understanding of the relationship between cancer and the environment. Studying cancer in animals is useful to understanding cancer in people." Faculty members affiliated with the newly named institute presented a symposium that evening. Richard Cerione, professor of molecular medicine, and Suzanne Snedeker, senior research associate in the Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors in New York State program, spoke, respectively, about current advances in cancer research and how environmental chemicals can affect breast cancer occurrence.

Related World Wide Web sites: The following sites provide additional information on this news release. Some might not be part of the Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over their content or availability.

o College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/

o Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors: http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/