The Selkowitz Family

Thirty-seven-year-old Adam Selkowitz says a lot has changed in the two decades that he has lived with lupus. “I think the most important part is that now, people have heard about lupus,” explains the Los Angeles film and TV producer and chairman of the Foundation’s eight-year-old West Coast division, Lupus LA.

“Through the power of Hollywood, for example, we’ve gotten out the word about lupus in places it didn’t normally get—on to shows like “House” and “ER.”

But as was true for most Americans in the late 1980s, when the Connecticut teen was diagnosed, “lupus” was not just a frightening, but an unfamiliar diagnosis. “We knew nothing about lupus, and we didn’t know anybody who had it,” recalls Adam’s father, Arthur (Arty), retired chairman and CEO of the worldwide advertising agency, D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, Inc. “And as a male with lupus manifested in his lungs, Adam’s case was so rare that the doctor said ‘I’m going to have to experiment.’

As Adam was being treated, Arty and his wife, Betsey, hunted for more information, and tried to keep life as normal as possible for him and their younger son, Jed.

Community Service an Expectation

“At some point, our doctor recommended calling the S.L.E. Lupus Foundation,” Arty recalls. Within a few months, Betsey—savvy, quick, and always ready with a question or comment—was on the Foundation board. She has served ever since.

Arty volunteered his advertising expertise and led a team that developed the popular “Get into the loop®” lupus branding and public service campaign. And in 2000, when the Foundation launched the Lupus Research Institute to shake up the field of lupus science, Arty took an active position on the board.

This bent for community service and philanthropic giving was passed along from Arty’s and Betsey’s parents, who had always been very involved in civic and community activities, and clearly infused the next generation with similar leanings.

“In my family, service isn’t requested, it’s expected,” Adam said. “You make sure to reach out and help those around you, and open up doors that others can’t open themselves. This idea has just been part of our lives. It’s how we grew up.”

Add Arty and Betsey: “We’re very proud of our sons’ community mindedness. It’s a genetic thing, but children learn by example too. They’ve been this way since they were young.”

On Both Coasts

Adam’s association with the Foundation started in New York when he organized a fundraiser at “Caroline’s Comedy Club.” Upon moving to Los Angeles in 1999, he helped to spearhead the sister organization, Lupus LA. Working with founder Dr. Daniel J. Wallace, Adam took part in steering the organization to fundraising success through such signature events as the Hollywood Bag Ladies® Luncheon and the Orange Ball. Lupus LA now raises over $1 million annually for lupus research.

Today, Adam oversees his production company, Waterfall Films, and essentially is in good health. Meanwhile, Jed, a senior marketing manager of entertainment for the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, has been instrumental in revitalizing the Lupus Foundation of America’s Georgia Chapter, serving on its board, and garnering significant media attention for the cause.

“Lupus actually has brought us closer together as a family and the Foundation has been a strong support all along the way,” Arty and Betsey say. “Their combination of service and information, plus supporting the Lupus Research Institute’s focus on novel research, provides the best means of not only helping current sufferers but also providing hope that we can make lupus a disease of the past.”