A Message from Bruce and Cynthia Sherman

Crohn’s disease has hit close to our home. Members of our family have been affected by Crohn’s disease. Each time we received another diagnosis, it felt like getting knocked down by a wave of uncertainty and fear. It was hard to get information about treatments, and even harder to reconcile why it was happening to them and how it would change our family’s lives. They endured endless doctor visits, drug protocols, hospitalizations, and drastic lifestyle changes. Fortunately, both daughters were able to access excellent medical care, allowing them to live full lives and raise beautiful families. We established the Sherman Prize to recognize the accomplishments of leaders in the field in the hope that it will create a ripple effect, spreading awareness, innovation, and inspiration to others, so that other families won’t have to contend with the disease as ours has.

Sherman Prize recipients are outstanding individuals who consider the whole patient experience — not just the serious symptoms, but also the psychological and practical components of IBD. Their work is innovative and impactful, and goes well beyond the norm, generating positive benefits on behalf of patients, their families and caregivers, and the future trajectory of the field. They are out-of-the-box thinkers who energize others to enter the fight to overcome Crohn’s and colitis. Our hope is that future recipients continue that tradition of excellence, including all patients in their work, especially those who can’t afford or access quality care.

We also hope this endeavor inspires and engages our children, grandchildren, and generations to come, just as much as it inspires the health care providers, researchers, educators and advocates who are serving those living with Crohn’s and colitis. This is a family effort: family-funded and family-created, and that makes this a heartfelt endeavor.

After years of hard work, it is a wonderful privilege to give back, and it’s particularly exciting to do so in a creative, personally meaningful way. The Sherman Prize is a legacy we are building together, and one we hope will have positive, lasting impacts on the lives of many.

Sincerely,
Bruce and Cynthia

About Bruce Sherman

Bruce Sherman is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of M4 Capital, having retired from his position as the Chief Executive Officer of Private Capital Management (PCM) in early 2009. Bruce launched PCM in 1986 and sold the firm to Legg Mason in 2001. Following the sale, he retained autonomy over PCM’s portfolio management and investment research and led the firm to a prestigious number-one ranking in the country as measured by Nelson’s “World’s Best Money Managers” for the 10 years ending December 31, 2005.  In 2017, Bruce became the Chairman & Principal Owner of the Miami Marlins, a Major League Baseball team.

About Cynthia Sherman

Cynthia Sherman was a partner at Clifford Chance (formerly Rogers & Wells), a global law firm, where she specialized in technology and intellectual property law until retiring in 2000. Cynthia attended Queens College, where she was elected membership in Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year. She earned a B.A. summa cum laude in 1976, and a Master’s degree in Early-Childhood Education in 1977. In 1984, Cynthia earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was a member of the Law Review. Cynthia also served as an outside director of Merrill Lynch Life Insurance Company of New York in the late 1990’s.

About The Bruce and Cynthia Sherman Charitable Foundation

The Bruce and Cynthia Sherman Charitable Foundation is a federally registered private foundation established in 2005, with initial and ongoing support provided exclusively by Bruce and Cynthia Sherman. It supports a variety of charitable and philanthropic causes, including childhood development, advanced medical research and education, and the performing and visual arts. The Bruce and Cynthia Sherman Charitable Foundation is the sole funder of the Sherman Prize.