The Cancer Research Institute hosted the 27th annual “Through the Kitchen” Dinner at The Four Seasons Restaurant on May 3, 2009, where 225 guests helped raise $505,000 for the organization.  Broadcast journalist Perri Peltz and her husband Eric Ruttenberg hosted the memorable evening along with event co-chairs Margaret and Andrew Paul and Lara and Remy Trafelet.  Sotheby's Jamie Niven drove a very successful live auction that brought in $160,000 to top off the $345,000 in ticket sales.  Event décor guru DeJuan Stroud masterfully created 24 NYC museum-themed tables or centerpieces.

The evening began with cocktails in the Four Seasons' famous Grill Room, where NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg & Diana Taylor, Evelyn & Leonard Lauder, NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein & Nicole Seligman, Princess Firyal of Jordan, Marlene Hess & James Zirin, mingled with other political and social dignitaries including Jessie & Rand Araskog, Liz & Jeff Peek, NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and his wife Veronica,  Leslie & Brian Brille, Jill & Lyle Wilpon, Stacey & Matthew Bronfman, Anna-Maria Kellen and her family members Caroline, Denise, and Michael Kellen, Deborah Norville & Karl Wellner, and a host of other distinguished attendees. The event's founder, Cancer Research Institute trustee Lauren Veronis, who was joined by her husband John Veronis¸ once again delivered a festive and memorable evening in support of a good cause.

When it was time for dinner, the doors to The Four Seasons' legendary kitchen were opened up to guests, who each donned red chef's aprons before lining up along the buffet to help themselves to museum-themed dishes like SKETCHpad Thai, EggsABITION tamago sushi rolls, PigMENTs in a BLANKet CANVAS, TROMP L'OEILsters, and other delights prepared on-site.

Plates in hand, guests entered the restaurant's famous Pool Room, where floating in the bubbling centerpiece pool was a large model of the historic Intrepid Museum, replete with paper airplanes and a thread of twinkling lights strung end-to-end across the imperial ship.  Surrounding the center pool were tables displaying representations of 23 other New York museums, each decked out in amazing detail.

The Mayor was seated—where else?—at the Museum of the City of New York table, complete with iconic Broadway theater playbills as place mats including “Three Penny Opera,” “Man of La Mancha,” and “Things that Go Bump in the Night.” Lally Weymouth & Richard Meier, Jackie & Ken Duberstein, Evelyn and Leonard Lauder, Nancy Silverman, and Lauren Veronis dined around a pop-up cityscape centerpiece surrounded by miniature taxi cabs, iconic Greek coffee cups, and even tiny black garbage bags through which gummy rats rifled for food.

Once guests had their fill of dinner, Jamie Niven of Sotheby's took the stage to drive the auction. The hot ticket item of the night was an internship donated by Mayor Bloomberg. When Ernesto Cruz and Dailey Pattee became engaged in a bidding war, the Mayor brought on applauds of approval from the crowd for throwing in a second internship, making both high bidders a winner. Mr. Niven was also able to help raise $100,000 from 14 generous donors, led by Leonard Stern, who pledged to buy a share of not one, but two years of a Cancer Research Institute postdoctoral fellowship. Other auction items included an impossible-to-get table and dinner for six at Rao's restaurant, won by Leonard Lauder, and an NBA Ball Kid Experience, donated by CRI trustee Heidi Ueberroth, which Ernesto Cruz also slam dunked with the highest bid.

“Through the Kitchen,” now in its 27th year, is one of New York City's favorite annual charity events. The benefit supports the Irvington Institute Fellowship Program of the Cancer Research Institute, which provides funding to postdoctoral fellows continuing their professional training in the world's top immunology and tumor immunology laboratories. Their basic research helps contribute to the development of new ways to treat, control, and prevent cancer, autoimmune diseases, and infectious diseases.