Legacy Showcase: Daisy Gerber

We’re pleased to highlight visionary individuals whose legacies continue well beyond the years they’re physically with us. Daisy Gerber was one of those people. She was not only a trailblazer in the film industry, but she also had the foresight to support Israel’s trailblazing science through a bequest – which will ultimately save countless lives and bring us closer to finding a cure.

Daisy Gerber: Small Stature, Big Life, Immeasurable Legacy

Daisy Gerber was larger than life despite her petite size. She was one of the first female assistant directors in Hollywood and a film industry pioneer, a friend and mentor to many, and an original thinker. Her innovative spirit and commitment to her career helped pave the way for future generations of women in film.

She was the only female film major to graduate from UCLA’s School of Film and Television in the early 1960s, the first woman accepted to the prestigious Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California, and the only woman of 3,000 applicants accepted to the Directors Guild of America training program. Her career spanned more than 40 years where she worked on many films and television shows, most notably Annie Hall (1977), What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969), and Scissors (1991).

Daisy on the set of “Bullitt” – Assistant director 1968

“Daisy was bold, intelligent, and curious. She was an original,” recounts Andrea Scharf, a longtime friend Gerber met while both women worked at Paramount Pictures; Scharf as a film editor while Gerber oversaw production. “We would write comedies together and try to sell them,” Scharf fondly recalls.  “Daisy had a fabulous sense of humor. She was adored and respected by relatives, friends, neighbors, and the many children in her life. While unable to have children of her own, she raised a stepdaughter. She had all kinds of interests – from opera, architecture, and art to line dancing. She was active in the Director’s Guild and film world.”

Fierce and fearless, Gerber didn’t let anything stop her from living life to the fullest – even cancer.  She was diagnosed with breast cancer twice, but Scharf said Gerber had a lot of support. “I went with her to the doctor sometimes to take notes because everything was so complicated.” Although she had a successful surgery the first time around, Gerber succumbed to the cancer when it recurred, and passed away at 84 years old. “Until the last minute she was full of humor and clever,” according to Scharf. “Which is how she wanted to be remembered.”

Born and raised in Budapest, Hungary in 1937, Gerber and her family fled the country for America following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. “As a refugee, she was always grateful to be American,” Scharf explains. The family, which included Gerber, her parents, older sister Erika and younger brother Bence, ended up in Los Angeles where they started over with nothing. As a petite teenager at 4’11, Gerber’s first job was as a lifeguard.

“Daisy was brought up living comfortably and with extraordinary parents,” Scharf recounts. “Her mother, Magda, was an advocate of raising infants and children with respect and worked with Hungarian pediatrician Dr. Emmi Pikler to create the Loczy Orphanage, which nurtured infants who lost parents during World War II. Magda became a renowned child therapist and infant specialist.

Gerber confided in a friend that when she was a child in Budapest, her beloved father, Imre, took her and her sister Erika into a room and told them that he was Jewish and they were Jewish, and they should never tell anyone. Imre survived WWII, and during the 1950s was arrested and interned in a Communist work camp, along with Erika.

Scharf recalls Gerber’s fascination with poet, anti-Nazi paratrooper and freedom fighter Hannah Senesh and she hoped to make a film about her. She was in contact with Hannah’s mother and brother discussing ideas. She also had many close Jewish and Israeli friends, including long-time UCLA film school colleagues Yoram Kahana and his wife Peggy. “Daisy was intrigued by Israel. She loved it and its people. I promised to take her there but unfortunately, cancer got in the way.”

Scharf believes that Gerber’s decision to support Israel Cancer Research Fund could not be more fitting. “Daisy had a great level of respect for Israel and wanted to do something meaningful. She also didn’t want there to be a disease like cancer. In her opinion, there’s no one as deserving of support than Israeli doctors and scientists. Daisy was always impressed with what people in Israel accomplish.”

Scharf misses Gerber and knows that her dear friend would be impressed with the cancer research made possible by this bequest. “It would give her enormous satisfaction to see the difference it is making. She made a difference in a lot of ways, but this is something even bigger. I’d like to find out who Daisy’s cancer doctors were at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and let them know about this – it would also give them enormous satisfaction.”

Daisy Gerber Memorial Grants

Daisy Gerber’s bequest is funding the entirety of the following cancer research projects, all of which have been named in her memory.

Dr. Emily Avitan-Hersh, MD at Rambam Health Care Campus
Daisy Gerber Memorial Project Grant: Uncovering the role of CXCR7 in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

Professor Aaron Ciechanover at Technion, Israel Institute of Technology
Daisy Gerber Memorial Professorship Grant: Sequestration of the 26S Proteasome as a Novel Cancer Therapeutic Platform (for multiple myeloma and other protease-inhibitor responsive tumors)

Dr. Eric Shifrut at Tel Aviv University
Daisy Gerber Memorial Research Career Development Award: Mechanisms of resistance to immunosuppressive adenosine signaling in human T cells (immunotherapy)

Dr. Zvi Yaari at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Daisy Gerber Memorial Research Career Development Award: Developing Optical Sensors for Real-Time Monitoring of Breast Cancer

With a planned gift to ICRF, you can make a meaningful impact on countless cancer patients and their loved ones for years to come. To learn more about including ICRF in your estate planning, contact ICRF Executive Director Alan Herman at [email protected] or 347-218-5946.