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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Zell Kravinsky, Joshua Kravinsky
Aired October 13, 2002 - 07:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, right now, we're going to talk with a man who gave away more than $6 million to help fight disease. He says it was a choice between his kids having a car when they go to college or a kid in Guatemala having a life.
Well Zell Kravinsky gave $6.2 million to the Centers for Disease Control, the largest donation the CDC has ever received from an individual. And he's also here with one of his four kids, Joshua, today.
Hi, Zell, good to see you.
ZELL KRAVINSKY, SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN: Very good to be here.
LIN: Good morning, Joshua.
JOSHUA KRAVINSKY, SON OF Z. KRAVINSKY: Good morning.
LIN: And congratulations to the CDC and to both of you.
Z. KRAVINSKY: Thank you.
LIN: Zell, I just want to start with you. How did you get this idea?
Z. KRAVINSKY: Well, I wanted to give to the CDC because Saddam Hussein doesn't. And the reason he doesn't is he watches CNN and he knows that the CDC stands between us and the epidemics he'd like to hurl at us, just as it's fought infectious disease and -- all around the world. And it's also fought the epidemic of tobacco use in America, from which my sister died. And we've named the gift in honor of her.
LIN: So you're making a statement also on behalf of your sister. It's a very personal story, wasn't it?
Z. KRAVINSKY: It was a very personal story. My sister died of lung cancer. And she died like 10 million have died over the last 20 years from that disease. And the CDC, along with its other targets, is fighting tobacco use in America.
LIN: $6.2 million is a lot of money. I mean most people don't even see that kind of money in a lifetime. What is $6.2 million to you? You've built a very successful real estate portfolio, obviously have done very well with your money? Z. KRAVINSKY: To me, it would either be a charitable donation for some worthy cause or a bunch of high tech toys that I'm not really interested in.
LIN: Joshua, what does it mean to you? Is this your college fund going out the window?
J. KRAVINSKY: No, it's -- it means to me a lot because you know, I know that somewhere, you know, someone my age or younger is, you know, life is probably going to be saved because you know, there's money to treat it.
A lot of the diseases are treatable, you know, if they had the funding. So...
LIN: You're 11-years old now, right?
J. KRAVINSKY: Yes.
LIN: All right, old enough for dad to come to you, and even talk about this. Did that happen?
J. KRAVINSKY: Yes.
LIN: Did you all sit down as a family and talk about this decision? How did that conversation go?
J. KRAVINSKY: It went pretty well. It was -- we were talking about it for a while about making a donation. And at first, we didn't know, like you know, what we should donate to. And you know, we narrowed it down.
And so, we finally got to the CDC. And we started learning more about -- I know when my dad called the foundation and asked if he could make a donation, he said, you know, donations are impossible, which is untrue.
But you know, eventually, we got through. And...
LIN: Well, they probably couldn't believe their ears when they heard.
Z. KRAVINSKY: No, they were pretty skeptical, but we approached the CDC Foundation, which is a private -- it's a non-profit that was created by Congress, by an act of Congress. And it functions, among other things, it's a conduit for private donations to the CDC.
LIN: Where -- do you know exactly where the money is going? Have you been able to at least direct it? Or is it at their discretion?
Z. KRAVINSKY: We will be able to direct it. And one of the things we're interested in now is a disease called "chagas" which is kills 50,000 Latin Americans every year, and it's starting to kill Americans.
LIN: What sort of disease is it?
Z. KRAVINSKY: It's a parasitic disease that an insect carries with it. The insect bites children as they sleep, the poorest children who sleep in huts. And there is a solution that Dr. Ben Beard and some of his colleagues at the CDC are working on.
And they feel that if they had, for example, $10 million, they could save in the next 20 years a million lives. So that's $10 for each life saved. And that's the sort of leverage of your investor desires.
LIN: What is it that you think you want your children to get out of this experience? It obviously isn't your money? It's something else that you want to pass on to them.
Z. KRAVINSKY: Well, we don't want our kids to be rich, because that -- not only does it spoil them, but it gives them a mistaken impression of the world. So our idea was to leave them the legacy of philanthropy. And...
LIN: And what does that mean?
Z. KRAVINSKY: Well, let's say later on, they ask us, "Daddy, where did the money go?" And we'll say, "The money went to help people and we'd like you to spend your lives that way in service to your fellow men and women."
LIN: Joshua, have you decided what you want to do when you grow up?
J. KRAVINSKY: No, I've want to do something that helps people. I might, you know, go to a CDC work there.
LIN: You know, I'd bet they'd have you. I bed they'd have a real -- you'd have a really good chance at least of getting some summer work there...
J. KRAVINSKY: Yes.
LIN: ...when you get a little older. Thank you so much for joining us. Joshua, you should be very proud of your dad. Zell, great example.
Z. KRAVINSKY: Thank you.
LIN: Thank you very much for joining us today.
Z. KRAVINSKY: Thank you very much.
LIN: And good to meet you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 13, 2002 - 07:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, right now, we're going to talk with a man who gave away more than $6 million to help fight disease. He says it was a choice between his kids having a car when they go to college or a kid in Guatemala having a life.
Well Zell Kravinsky gave $6.2 million to the Centers for Disease Control, the largest donation the CDC has ever received from an individual. And he's also here with one of his four kids, Joshua, today.
Hi, Zell, good to see you.
ZELL KRAVINSKY, SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN: Very good to be here.
LIN: Good morning, Joshua.
JOSHUA KRAVINSKY, SON OF Z. KRAVINSKY: Good morning.
LIN: And congratulations to the CDC and to both of you.
Z. KRAVINSKY: Thank you.
LIN: Zell, I just want to start with you. How did you get this idea?
Z. KRAVINSKY: Well, I wanted to give to the CDC because Saddam Hussein doesn't. And the reason he doesn't is he watches CNN and he knows that the CDC stands between us and the epidemics he'd like to hurl at us, just as it's fought infectious disease and -- all around the world. And it's also fought the epidemic of tobacco use in America, from which my sister died. And we've named the gift in honor of her.
LIN: So you're making a statement also on behalf of your sister. It's a very personal story, wasn't it?
Z. KRAVINSKY: It was a very personal story. My sister died of lung cancer. And she died like 10 million have died over the last 20 years from that disease. And the CDC, along with its other targets, is fighting tobacco use in America.
LIN: $6.2 million is a lot of money. I mean most people don't even see that kind of money in a lifetime. What is $6.2 million to you? You've built a very successful real estate portfolio, obviously have done very well with your money? Z. KRAVINSKY: To me, it would either be a charitable donation for some worthy cause or a bunch of high tech toys that I'm not really interested in.
LIN: Joshua, what does it mean to you? Is this your college fund going out the window?
J. KRAVINSKY: No, it's -- it means to me a lot because you know, I know that somewhere, you know, someone my age or younger is, you know, life is probably going to be saved because you know, there's money to treat it.
A lot of the diseases are treatable, you know, if they had the funding. So...
LIN: You're 11-years old now, right?
J. KRAVINSKY: Yes.
LIN: All right, old enough for dad to come to you, and even talk about this. Did that happen?
J. KRAVINSKY: Yes.
LIN: Did you all sit down as a family and talk about this decision? How did that conversation go?
J. KRAVINSKY: It went pretty well. It was -- we were talking about it for a while about making a donation. And at first, we didn't know, like you know, what we should donate to. And you know, we narrowed it down.
And so, we finally got to the CDC. And we started learning more about -- I know when my dad called the foundation and asked if he could make a donation, he said, you know, donations are impossible, which is untrue.
But you know, eventually, we got through. And...
LIN: Well, they probably couldn't believe their ears when they heard.
Z. KRAVINSKY: No, they were pretty skeptical, but we approached the CDC Foundation, which is a private -- it's a non-profit that was created by Congress, by an act of Congress. And it functions, among other things, it's a conduit for private donations to the CDC.
LIN: Where -- do you know exactly where the money is going? Have you been able to at least direct it? Or is it at their discretion?
Z. KRAVINSKY: We will be able to direct it. And one of the things we're interested in now is a disease called "chagas" which is kills 50,000 Latin Americans every year, and it's starting to kill Americans.
LIN: What sort of disease is it?
Z. KRAVINSKY: It's a parasitic disease that an insect carries with it. The insect bites children as they sleep, the poorest children who sleep in huts. And there is a solution that Dr. Ben Beard and some of his colleagues at the CDC are working on.
And they feel that if they had, for example, $10 million, they could save in the next 20 years a million lives. So that's $10 for each life saved. And that's the sort of leverage of your investor desires.
LIN: What is it that you think you want your children to get out of this experience? It obviously isn't your money? It's something else that you want to pass on to them.
Z. KRAVINSKY: Well, we don't want our kids to be rich, because that -- not only does it spoil them, but it gives them a mistaken impression of the world. So our idea was to leave them the legacy of philanthropy. And...
LIN: And what does that mean?
Z. KRAVINSKY: Well, let's say later on, they ask us, "Daddy, where did the money go?" And we'll say, "The money went to help people and we'd like you to spend your lives that way in service to your fellow men and women."
LIN: Joshua, have you decided what you want to do when you grow up?
J. KRAVINSKY: No, I've want to do something that helps people. I might, you know, go to a CDC work there.
LIN: You know, I'd bet they'd have you. I bed they'd have a real -- you'd have a really good chance at least of getting some summer work there...
J. KRAVINSKY: Yes.
LIN: ...when you get a little older. Thank you so much for joining us. Joshua, you should be very proud of your dad. Zell, great example.
Z. KRAVINSKY: Thank you.
LIN: Thank you very much for joining us today.
Z. KRAVINSKY: Thank you very much.
LIN: And good to meet you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
