LIVING THE GOOD LIFE

LOIS POPE HAS ENJOYED SEVERAL SUCCESSFUL CAREERS, a loving marriage, and can be greeted each morning by the calming waves of the Atlantic Ocean just outside her front door. Indeed, she has done well in life. However, it could be said that she’s done even more good—an important distinction her parents instilled in her as a child.

Though of modest means growing up, Lois’ mother always saved enough to donate to those less fortunate when the opportunity arose. It was this example Lois would follow into the future, donating millions of her own fortune to a variety of worthy causes.

Growing tired of the cold, gray winters of the Northeast, Lois and her late husband Gene moved the headquarters of their media company, The National Enquirer, to South Florida several decades ago. The pair instantly fell in love with the area, regularly hosting massive Christmas celebrations featuring the then-World’s Tallest Christmas Tree. Though a life of luxury along Florida’s Gold Coast was certainly a dream fulfilled, Lois was drawn to a higher calling.

In 1993, she established the Leaders In Furthering Education (LIFE) and Lois Pope LIFE Foundations, which have since enriched the lives of hundreds of thousands disadvantaged by socio-economic status, neglect, age, abuse, and disabilities across the world. The organizations have hosted summer camps for lowincome children, provided medical school scholarships for students in underserved areas, constructed a clean water system for a Guatemalan village, and pursued numerous humanitarian projects. Most recently, Lois’ Food4Kids program has helped to offer nutritious meals outside of regular school hours on weekends, holidays, and extended breaks. Lois’ Care for Refugees, a special Save the Children program, provides food, water, and health supplies for Ukrainian refugee children, and she has endowed both the Lois Pope LIFE Center, home to the world-renowned Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and the Lois Pope Center for Retinal and Macular Degeneration Research at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.

Lois even partnered with none other than fellow Club Braman member Dr. Robin Ganzert and American Humane for the Pups4Patriots initiative to rescue and train service dogs before pairing them with veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury, effectively saving lives on both ends of the leash.

Efforts like the latter, which are focused on honoring those physically and psychologically scarred from combat, and diminishing the number of veteran lives lost to suicide, are the ones in which Lois is most proud. Following her mother’s lead once again, Lois personally donated $10 million toward the apogee of her achievements—the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial, dedicated on October 5, 2014 in Washington, D.C. The star-shaped fountain and flame, flanked by granite and glass, stands as a reminder to the public and elected officials alike that in war there are no unwounded soldiers.