In June 2012, Glaucoma Research Foundation received a generous bequest from the estate of Miriam Yelsky, PhD, a psychologist in New York City. To honor this meaningful commitment a Dr. Miriam Yelsky Memorial Research Grant will be awarded annually.
Born to Russian parents in Brooklyn, New York in 1920, Miriam and her family endured the Great Depression and formed a tightly-knit bond. Following her high school graduation, Miriam worked as a commercial artist and then continued her education to receive a B.A. from Brooklyn College and M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Indiana's Wayne State University. Then at the age of 44, she received her PhD from Yeshiva University, specializing in school-aged children.
Miriam began her professional career as a school psychologist at the Bureau of Child Guidance in Brooklyn, New York. Later, she went on to establish her own successful psychology practice which she maintained well into her early eighties. According to Miriam's niece Susan Rosenthal Jay, Miriam wanted her life savings to help others and as a result of her altruism, she included Glaucoma Research Foundation in her will. Both Miriam and her mother had glaucoma.
Glaucoma Research Foundation is most grateful to Dr. Yelsky and many other donors who have included GRF in their estate plans. Thomas M. Brunner, President and CEO remarked that "charitable gifts made through your will or trust are a wonderful way to provide generous support in order to ensure the advancement of glaucoma research today and well into the future."