Like many successful baby boomers, Sherry Lansing seems eager
to give back to society. But not many retired baby boomers have turned this urge
into a full-time job. At 62, Lansing is now a committed philanthropist and
member of several boards, but she has reinvented herself several times over. She
was named president of 20th Century Fox in 1980, making her the first woman to
head a major film studio. She began her career as a teacher, then tried her hand
at modeling and acting before moving to the other side of the camera. She
oversaw Paramount Pictures as chairman for 12 years, until she retired in 2005.
Lansing spoke with Worth features editor Emily DeNitto
about life in her seventh decade. So life begins again at 60. I always planned to leave the
entertainment industry when I was 60 and start a life of giving back. It’s
something I had been thinking about since I was in my early 50s. If
you’re lucky enough to have achieved your dream—which I had—and if you’re lucky
enough to have economic independence—which I did—you start to have this nagging
feeling about life and mortality. You ask, "What’s the third chapter all about?"
Though I respect people who want to die at their desks, that wasn’t what I was
about. And a former president and a blogger opened your eyes. My particular role model was
Jimmy Carter. I admire him so much for everything he’s done in his life, but I
especially admire him for his post-presidency. I was fortunate enough to meet
him, talk with him and hear from him that this would be the best part of my
life. It gave me the courage to set 60 as my target date to leave the entertainment business and form my own foundation dedicated to cancer research
and education. I wanted to get involved in policy. I wanted to give back with my
time, not just my money. As I was going through this evolution, I got this idea that I
must not be alone. I started to think about forming a movement of 60-plusers.
How could we engage these people, put them back in the work force on a voluntary
basis or nominal salary basis and use their skills? Then a very weird thing happened. My friend Arianna Huffington
kept asking me to write for her blog, the Huffington Post. So finally one
day I blogged about how there seems to be such a problem with security, why
don’t we take retired police officers and put them on airplanes and at security
sites, working part time. I’m not suggesting that anyone over 60 does not want
to enjoy life. Believe me we do, and we want those walks in the park and to
enjoy those moments of intimacy that perhaps we lost in our desire to have
careers. Why start a foundation? Why not just write checks? In 1988, Armand Hammer and I
founded Stop Cancer, which is dedicated to raising funds for cancer research.
Conversely, the Sherry Lansing Foundation does not do any fundraising. The
foundation funds cancer research via a number of larger organizations. One of the benefits of running a foundation as opposed to
writing a check is being able to support organizations and causes in an array of
nonfinancial ways. The foundation spends considerable time and resources lending
its talents to and developing ideas for a variety of organizations.
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