Spring 2026
By Kathy Clute
The estate of Ruth Freedlander made a $1.8 million bequest to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute that will advance research into inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), a rare and aggressive disease that is particularly difficult to treat.
With the bequest, Dana-Farber established the Freedlander Fund for Inflammatory Breast Cancer under the direction of Sara Tolaney, MD, MPH, chief of the Division of Breast Oncology. Freedlander made the gift in memory of her daughter, Lynn November of Westhampton, N.Y., who passed away from the disease. The gift also honors Freedlander’s parents, Else and Sigfried Oppenheimer.
“The bequest is a testament to Ruth’s respect for Dana-Farber and her tremendous love for her daughter, whom she wanted to be remembered,” said her friend Jean Rosensaft, director of the Heller Museum at Hebrew Union College in New York. “Ruth was so grateful for Dana-Farber’s great medical care, its research and innovation, and its ability to help Lynn.” Freedlander, of Teaneck, N.J., died in 2023 at age 92. She and her parents fled Nazi Germany to Antwerp, Belgium, when she was a child, and the family later found refuge in the United States.
Freedlander went on to become a successful stockbroker and investment advisor who served as a trustee and visionary for the Dr. Bernard Heller Foundation, which supports four Jewish educational institutions. “Ruth was an extraordinary woman who never forgot her childhood roots, her experience of persecution, discrimination, and escape from the Nazis, and then coming to this country and finding freedom and opportunity,” said Rosensaft. “She was spirited, she was determined, and she had very passionate ideas and feelings about everything that she did in her life.”
Freedlander’s bequest to Dana-Farber targets IBC, a form of invasive ductal carcinoma that accounts for only 1% to 5% of all breast cancers, according to the American Cancer Society. It often does not cause a lump and may not show up on a mammogram. Instead, breasts may become swollen and red because cancer cells are blocking lymph vessels in the skin, and it spreads and grows more quickly than other types of breast cancer. Thanks to Freedlander’s gift, Dana-Farber can continue making significant strides in IBC research and treatment. “The Freedlander Fund will be pivotal in advancing the understanding of the disease and developing more targeted therapies and improved patient outcomes,” said Tolaney. “Ruth and Lynn will be a constant source of inspiration as we strive to fulfill our mission of lessening the burden of cancer.”