Warren Buffett knows all about the medical center.
Six years ago — when he was 81 — the world’s most famous investor was treated at Nebraska Medicine for prostate cancer.
CBS Sunday Morning
The air date for the feature on the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center is yet to be determined.
“CBS Sunday Morning” is one of the longest running programs on television, having been a fixture on CBS since 1979. Locally, it runs each Sunday from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on KMTV (Ch. 3).
It is an arts and culture program that is patterned after the New York Times Magazine, said Mary Lou Teel, the producer of the cancer center segment who has been with the program since 1985.
Pauley has anchored the program for the past 14 months. Prior anchors were Charles Kuralt (1979-1994) and Charles Osgood (1994-2016).
Teel said the cancer center feature will be posted to the “CBS News” website under “Sunday Morning” after it airs.
As part of the cancer center feature, the “CBS Sunday Morning” crew taped Warren Buffett and Pamela Buffett having lunch with Pauley at Don & Millie’s restaurant at 4430 Farnam St.
“What I wanted was good care, and I got it,” Buffett said. “You couldn’t have had better people than I had here — from top to the bottom.”
Buffett said he remembers well when he got to “ring the gong” after completing the last of his 45 radiation treatments.
He credited Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the cancer center, for having the vision to make the center a reality.
Buffett made his comments Thursday during a lengthy interview with Jane Pauley, host of “CBS Sunday Morning” and a famed TV personality and best-selling author. The interview was conducted on the ground floor of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer in front of the Matthew Placzek butterfly feature.
The “CBS Sunday Morning” crew spent two days in Omaha developing a story on the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center and its unique healing arts program.
Of course, it helps when the name on your cancer center is Buffett . . . and when the ‘Oracle of Omaha’ says he wants to talk about the center and its namesake — Pamela Buffett.
If you haven’t heard the story, Warren Buffett and his late wife, Susan, hired Pamela to be their babysitter when she was 14 years old and her last name was Bartling. She became a part of the Buffett family when Warren fixed her up with his first cousin, Fred “Fritz” Buffett, and they eventually got married.
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Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, escorts Jane Pauley through the facility. |
When the Buffetts’ oldest child, Susie, suggested that Pamela think about investing in the UNMC/Nebraska Medicine cancer center project a few years ago, Pamela answered, after checking with Warren, by making the lead investment.
“The joy of giving money away — it comes back many fold,” Pamela Buffett said to Pauley.
She said meeting Warren and Susan Buffett “was one of the luckiest days of my life,” that Susan, who died in 2004, had a “profound impact on her life,” and that Warren was “the nicest icon you’ll ever meet.”
UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., stood in the back of the room and watched as Pauley interviewed Warren and Pamela Buffett.
Calling it “an inspirational moment, one that will go down in med center history,” Dr. Gold said, “It was absolutely amazing. It was a great pleasure to work with the CBS crew and help make this memory possible.”
Will this story be airing this Sunday then?
A wonderful vision given expression in this great facility. It was a privilege to watch it develop.
The air date for the feature on the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center is yet to be determined.
Tom, you and your team did an amazing job. It's been amazing to see this dream become a reality for those who have worked so hard for many years.