Justice Sandra Day O’Connor & Family
Recipient of the 2020 Great Ladies Award
Justice O'Connor was the first woman to serve as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. She received her LL.B. from Stanford University in 1952 and worked in California and Frankfurt, Germany, before settling in Arizona. She served as Assistant Attorney General of Arizona from 1965 to 1969 and then was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Arizona State Senate. She ran and won re-election to the state senate twice, serving two full terms. In 1975, she was elected Judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court and served until 1979, when she was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals.
In 1981, the Senate confirmed her nomination by President Reagan as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Justice O'Connor retired from the Supreme Court in 2006 to spend more time with her husband, John Jay O'Connor, who since passed away from Alzheimer's. President Obama honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has served as Honorary Chair of the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation’s Board of Governors since 2011 (now retired). We honor Sandra Day O'Connor and her family for their distinguished leadership in support of Alzheimer’s disease research, advocacy and awareness.
Thomas Pheasant
Recipient of the 2020 Estelle Gelman Award
Thomas Pheasant is internationally recognized for his 38 years of creating interiors and furniture. With personal residences in Washington, D.C. and Paris, he focuses his creativity on residential and commercial projects throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Current projects include the historic Blair House – the President’s Guest House on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House.
Celebrated for his modern vision of classical design his diverse accomplishments have included the 1997 Andrew Martin International Designer of the Year Award, the distinction by Architectural Digest US in 2005 as a Dean of American Design, the 2015 John Russell Pope Award by the Institute of Classical Architecture, and the 2016 Design Icon Award for his contributions to the design industry. He continues to be widely published in the most prestigious architectural and interior design magazines around the world.
His book, Simply Serene: The New Luxury for Modern Interiors, published by Rizzoli, brings to life the serenity and classic imprint that are Pheasant’s signature.
His furniture design collections include, Thomas Pheasant Collection for Baker, Thomas Pheasant Collection for McGuire and his own collection of limited edition and unique pieces, Thomas Pheasant STUDIO.
Thomas Pheasant is honored for his many years of dedication and support of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s mission to rapidly accelerate the discovery of drugs to prevent, treat and cure Alzheimer’s disease.