Spring 2026
By Hannah White Hannah
Steve is the son of Dr. Sidney Farber, who founded the Children’s Cancer Research Foundation (now Dana-Farber) in 1947 and is widely regarded as the father of modern chemotherapy. Steve joined the Board of Trustees in 1973 and is currently its longest serving member. For 52 years, Steve and Dee have strongly supported presidential initiatives, capital campaigns, endowed chairs, and other Dana-Farber priorities.
Their professional lives have focused on public service. After completing studies at Harvard and Princeton, Steve worked to improve U.S. fiscal and intergovernmental policies and operations, starting with the new anti-poverty programs of the 1960s. He was an adviser to Indiana Congressman John Brademas, New Jersey Governor Richard J. Hughes, and Harvard University President Derek Bok.
We understand the value and importance of unrestricted gifts. The overriding goal is to maximize support of all kinds in order to build on Dana-Farber’s extraordinary achievements over the past three quarters of a century.
Steve Farber and Dee Curley
He then served as executive director of the National Governors’ Association; chairman of Concordia Group, a national advisory service on fiscal and intergovernmental affairs; and chief adviser for the County Council of Montgomery County, Maryland. Dee, a Wellesley College graduate, worked for the U.S. Bureau of Consumer Protection, the Massachusetts Council on Crime and Correction, and Wisconsin Governor Patrick J. Lucey as the state’s director of intergovernmental relations. She then served as the chief analyst for fiscal and trade issues at the National Governors’ Association, where she and Steve met, and as Assistant Director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. “My father lives on at Dana-Farber, just as he does in us,” Steve said. “This conviction is what animates the gifts Dee and I have made over the years. We are proud to support many vitally important organizations. Dana-Farber is and always will be foremost among them.”
Steve and Dee added: “While some of our past gifts have been for specific purposes, we understand the value and importance of unrestricted gifts. The overriding goal is to maximize support of all kinds in order to build on Dana-Farber’s extraordinary achievements over more than three quarters of a century.”