Don C. Reed

Right now my life revolves around stem cell research. I am not a scientist myself, but I try to raise money for them, as well as working to protect their rights to research.

My son Roman Reed was paralyzed in a college football accident, 21 years go, and his boundless courage is my inspiration. Working together with many patient advocates, we passed a law named after him: the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act of 1999, which raised about $17 million in state funds, as well as attracting roughly $85 million in federal funds.

I had the honor of working with Bob Klein, the author and leader of Proposition 71, serving on the board of directors for the campaign for the $3 billion stem cell initiative, and still work as vice President for Public Policy of the Americans for Cures Foundation.

I write a lot, about 200 Huffington Post articles, and probably double that in my blog, Stem Cell Battles. I also wrote 5 books about the sea, and a couple dozen articles on ocean wildlife.

I was a schoolteacher (Junior High English) for 15 years, and before that a professional scuba diver for Marine World Africa USA for about 17 years. I loved working underwater about 4 hours a day with the sharks, dolphins, eels, seals and other creatures of this man-made sea.

An asthmatic child, I lifted weights to be able to fight back against a local bully. Olympic weightlifting called to me, and I competed nationally with best lifts of 290 press, 250 snatch, and a 345 pound clean and jerk. I was the Middle Atlantic Heavyweight weightlifting champion in 1968.

With my beloved wife of 46 years, Gloria, the color, wisdom and love of my life, I have two children, the aforenamed Roman and Desiree, a sports attorney, she is currently Associate Athletic Director for Virginia Tech University; and four grandchildren: Roman part two, just beginning at UC Berkeley and who hit a homerun over the fence at his first pitch of college, Jackson the ten year old entrepreneur (he wants to own the San Francisco 49'ers), Jason, at ten already a slugger like his brother; and Catherine (the Great) 6 years old, who owns my heart-- when she says, "Grampa?", I usually just say "Yes" beforehand, to save trouble. My inspiration for work ethic is my father, Dr. Charles H. Reed, who still plays tennis 3 x a week at age 93.