Spirit of Hope Award

Lisa Niemi Swayze
Lisa Niemi Swayze personifies the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network's Spirit of Hope Award for the courage, love and inspiration she gave to her husband Patrick Swayze during his heroic fight against pancreatic cancer. Lisa's spirit of hope inspired and continues to inspire many others who are facing a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

Lisa has spent decades on and off film sets learning from established directors and cinematographers to gain the knowledge to produce and direct "One Last Dance" in 2004. No stranger to acting, writing and directing, Lisa adapted the award-winning screenplay from the original play that she wrote directed and starred in with her husband and Nicholas Gunn called "Without a Word". Performed at the Beverly Hills Playhouse in Los Angeles in 1985, "Without a Word" won six Drama Critics Awards including Best Play, Writing, Direction, and Performance.

In 2008, Lisa directed Patrick in "My Brother's Keeper" one of the episodes from his critically acclaimed television series The Beast. The show focused on a veteran FBI agent that is assigned a new partner, unaware that he was recruited as a double agent to investigate his activities.

Along with Patrick, Lisa co-wrote his memoir titled "The Time of My Life". The autobiography is a behind-the-scenes look at their success in Hollywood and their remarkable love story, creating a memoir that is both entertaining and inspirational. A large part of the captivating story focuses on their private life and time divided between their ranches in New Mexico and another just outside of Los Angeles, as well as their mutual passions for aviation and Arabian horse breeding. "The Time of My Life" was both a "New York Times" Best Seller, debuting at number four on the newspaper's list, as well as an international best seller. Lisa was also interviewed nationally on shows such as "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "The View," "Larry King Live," "Good Morning America," "Access Hollywood," "Extra," and was a featured speaker at the 2009 Maria Shriver Women's Conference.

Lisa is currently writing a new work on healing and moving forward with Atria Books. In her new book, she openly discusses her process of grief and healing and how she has moved forward with her life since her husband's passing. Lisa will also include private memories from the last two years of her life with her husband.

As an actress, Lisa has appeared in both film and on Broadway. Her film credits include "Steel Dawn", "Beat Angel", "Letters from a Killer", "Younger and Younger", and "Slam Dance". Her theatre credits include "Will Roger's Follies", "Love Letters", and the award-winning production "The Brick and the Rose".

Lisa is a classically trained dancer and began her profession training for the Harkness Ballet. She then danced with the prestigious Joffrey Ballet and the New York Contemporary Dancers.

She currently divides her time between New Mexico and Los Angeles.
 

From left, Brian Daly, Linda Daly, Nancy M. Daly and Robert Daly, Jr.

At this year's gala, the inaugural Nancy M. Daly Shining Star Award will be presented to Linda Daly, Robert Daly, Jr., and Brian Daly to honor the memory of their mother, a widely respected pancreatic cancer community champion, children's advocate, philanthropist and arts leader in Los Angeles, who passed from pancreatic cancer in 2009.



Linda Daly
Like her mother, Linda Daly is devoted to bettering the lives of others. As a Los Angeles County Master Gardener, Linda presents workshops to and provides information for underserved populations about growing their own food for their families. She has traveled extensively throughout Africa on humanitarian missions to observe how women have taken on the primary role of providing for their families. Through her work with international-aid organizations, she learned that a collective, unbiased effort can change the way the world feeds itself, which has strengthened her resolve to address hunger issues.

Linda is also the founding board member of Vintage Hollywood Foundation, an organization that celebrates the work of numerous charities in Southern California. In other philanthropy endeavors, she served as the social action committee chair at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, where she coordinated temple-wide donations for both Darfur and Hurricane Katrina victims. She also served as the volunteer coordinator for the partnership between Wilshire Boulevard Temple and the OPCC Access Center, which provides services for the homeless and underserved community in the Santa Monica area. In her role, she coordinated efforts where congregants helped to feed more than 100 homeless people in Santa Monica on Sundays.

Linda also serves as a contributing green editor for the Los Angeles Times Magazine, where she blogs regularly about sustainability, reducing waste and organic foods. She helps to manage a family ranch in Southern California as well.

Brian Daly
Brian Daly is a partner in the award-winning entertainment, advertising and production company Mobscene Creative and Productions, which most recently was credited for their innovative work on the worldwide hit film Avatar.

Brian began his entertainment industry career as a screenwriter and then became a trailer producer who wrote and produced movie trailers and television campaigns for many hit films before joining Sony Pictures, and later 20th Century Fox, as a creative advertising executive. There, he spearheaded campaigns for such films as Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Man On Fire, Garfield, Daddy Day Care and Walk The Line. Most recently, Brian has been working on 3D projects such as a Black Eyed Peas concert for a worldwide Samsung promotion, and has developed new onset 3D production techniques and 3D post production processes for various studio projects while also overseeing creative campaigns for films such as Sex and the City 2 and the upcoming Green Lantern movie franchise.

Brian lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Cindy, and their son, Quinn.

Robert Daly, Jr.
Robert A. Daly Jr., Managing Director at J.P. Morgan Securities, lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.

While working at Bear Stearns in New York, he served as a founding member of the Junior Committee for the Stephen D Hassenfeld Children's Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.

After moving back to Los Angeles in 2003, he continued to be a vigorous supporter of various children's charities.


Emily Couric Public Service Award

Cindy Landon
With 15 years of experience in the entertainment industry and in television syndication, Cindy Landon brings considerable expertise and sophistication to her philanthropic work on behalf of several international and local charitable organizations. Causes that are especially close to her heart include those committed to helping children, protecting the environment, supporting animal rights and organizations promoting holistic health and well-being.

Cindy became passionately committed to the fight against pancreatic cancer following the passing of her husband, beloved actor, writer, director and producer Michael Landon, who succumbed to the disease in 1991.

In addition to serving as a founding celebrity, major donor and committed advocate for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, Cindy is also President of the Michael and Cindy Landon Foundation. Her other philanthropic roles include serving as co-chair of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine's (PCRM) 25th Anniversary Gala, held in April of 2010, as an honorary board member and event host for Free Arts for Abused Children, as a co-chair and event host for Malibu Global Awareness benefiting Doctors Without Borders and as an event host and executive producer of the upcoming documentary film, Voices of Uganda (www.voicesofuganda.org). She also is co-producer of the documentary film Whaledreamers (www.whaledreamers.com).

A devoted mother of two children, Jennifer and Sean, and a lifelong animal lover, Cindy lives in Malibu, California, along with nine dogs, two horses and two parrots. When not working on her own charitable and entertainment projects, Cindy enjoys adventure travel, yoga and running.