Robertson Research Fund
The Robertson Research Fund was
established by the Robertson family of Lloyd Harbor
in 1973. The initial gift from Charles Robertson was
nearly $8 million and coincided with the transfer of
the Robertson property on Banbury Lane to the
Laboratory. The site of our Banbury Conference
Center, this property is further supported by a
maintenance fund, also created by the Robertsons.
Two years later in 1975, the
Banbury Fund--the Robertson family's private
foundation--established the Marie H. Robertson
Memorial Fund to support neuroscience research at
Cold Spring Harbor. This year, the Marie Robertson
fund distributed $125,000 to support Tim Tully and
his work on learning and memory in Drosophila; a new
postdoctoral researcher for Alcino Silva, who studies
learning and memory in mice; two neurobiology
seminars (given by Josh Gordon of University of
California, San Francisco and Menahem Segal of the
Fogarty International Center in Bethesda, Maryland);
and a Banbury Meeting on Genetic Approaches to
Learning and Memory.
In 1996 the Robertson Research
Fund--its value now up to $59 million--distributed
$1.8 million to basic research at Cold Spring Harbor.
These funds provided research program support
directly to 20 scientists; very important
supplemental support for the Lab's postdoctoral
follows; and support for graduate students and our
seminar program. These most generous gifts continue
to have a monumental impact on science at the
Laboratory.