Mindy Farber, A&S ’74, and John Camp have committed to spending their retirement supporting the causes about which they’re most passionate — promoting animal welfare through their nonprofit Friends of All Critters at Shelters, Inc. (FOACAS), which has helped find loving homes for more than 600 dogs in the last three years, and powering new research to better understand the brain. Together, they have established the John Camp and Mindy Farber ’74 Endowed Award at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
“We want to build something beautiful out of tragedy and loss,” Farber explains. “It’s changed the trajectory of our lives.”
Farber and Camp met and married in the wake of loss. In 2018, Farber’s late husband, Edward Charles Schweitzer, passed from early onset Alzheimer’s disease. The same year, Camp’s first wife, Jill Hollander Camp, lost her battle with metastatic breast cancer.
Just one year later, the pair said goodbye to two more of the people they held dearest — Farber’s Johns Hopkins roommate and longtime friend, Rhonda Schneider Casas, and John Camp’s brother, Tom. Both died from glioblastoma, an aggressive and fast-growing brain tumor.
Tom was Camp’s twin, Farber explains, and his diagnosis and death had implications on Camp’s emotional health. And as two of the First Women of Hopkins — the inaugural group of undergraduate women to enter Johns Hopkins University, 94 years after its founding — Farber and Schneider Casas shared a unique, lifetime bond. Their daughters even roomed together during their time on the Homewood campus.
“We were in our 60s when we lost our spouses and loved ones. We were in our ‘golden years,’” Camp says. “You work hard your whole life. We decided we wanted to use this time to give back to the things we care about.”
The couple say navigating loss encouraged them to think about their legacy. They decided to establish the endowed fund as a gift through their estate plan.
“You have these feelings that everyone will experience at some point in their lives. We encountered it earlier than most people, and we were still able to act on those feelings through our estate,” Camp says. “Many people want to make a big impact after loss, in our case that’s to advance research into cancer and brain sciences.”
The endowed fund will grow in perpetuity while powering explorative research destined to become independently funded through government or foundational grants. It’s designed to support the development of young scientists — from undergraduate researchers to early career faculty — and stimulate bold new lines of research aimed at understanding the brain, specifically the cancers and cognitive disorders that have impacted the couple and their loved ones.
“Mindy and John’s commitment will help the Krieger School and Johns Hopkins evolve into the world’s leader in life-changing brain research. Their legacy and impact will be one of healing and comfort for an untold number of patients and their families for years to come,” says Christopher Celenza, the James P. Knapp Dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. “We are grateful for their continued dedication and generosity to further our mission to make a difference in the world of patient care and healthy aging.”
Though the work powered by the endowed fund will inform future therapies, Farber and Camp are also excited about the research itself. The award will encourage cross-departmental and cross-divisional collaboration in the neurosciences. The pair is especially interested in the intersection between brain and computer sciences.
They’re also proud to leave a legacy at an institution that has meant so much to Farber, who says Hopkins is her family school. As a parent, she hosted summer send-off parties for new Blue Jays and serves as president of the Parents Association for four years. As an alum, she has been involved with the National Alumni Council and the Executive Council of the D.C. Region, and she’s chaired every class reunion for the last two decades. This year marked her 50th.
“As a woman, I want to encourage involvement, juggling working and family, and philanthropy,” she says.
Though her connection to the university has grown and evolved over the years, Farber still remembers her first visit to campus as a child, when her older brother first joined the ranks of Hopkins undergraduates. Then-university president Milton S. Eisenhower took her grandmother’s hand and thanked her family for being a part of Hopkins.
“With the endowment,” she says, “everything has come full circle.”
This story first appeared in the Spring/Summer 2024 edition of Planning Matters.
Topics: Alumni, Friends of Johns Hopkins Medicine, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, School of Medicine, Fuel Discovery, Promote and Protect Health, Support Scholars