Jeffrey Berman, an Upper East Side commercial broker who can guide high-net-worth clients through complex tax-deferred exchanges, channels that same energy into something more personal: fighting the disease he's battled for 35 years.
In addition to serving as an associate broker at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New York Properties, Berman directs the New York City Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research. He's held the director post since 1994, the year a Canadian organizer reached out to him after learning of his leukemia diagnosis in 1990.
"I jumped at the opportunity," Berman told CoStar News.
The numbers tell a powerful story. The largest field of runners in the event's history packed Central Park last weekend. "This was our biggest and most successful run ever," he said. "We had over 4,000 participants and the weather couldn't have been more favorable."
Since its inception, the event has raised more than $5 million for the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Every dollar goes to research, as related expenses are underwritten. That money produces results, Berman said.
"Our research was approved by the FDA last year as a lymphoma therapy," he said.
In May 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration signed off on a chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR, T-cell therapy funded by the run.
The approval marked the first time the FDA cleared CAR T-cell therapies for use earlier in the multiple myeloma treatment sequence, rather than only after other treatments failed. The drug, Breyanzi, now treats two forms of lymphoma. Bristol Myers markets it.
The fundraising run honors Terry Fox, an 18-year-old Canadian who attempted to run across his country in 1980 after losing his right leg to bone cancer. He ran about 3,300 miles — a marathon daily for 143 days — before the disease returned. He died nearly one year later.
His legacy lives on. The global Terry Fox movement has raised $1 billion. More than 6,000 runs happen worldwide each year, and the operation continues to expand.
"We've also formed a joint venture between Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Terry Fox Foundation in Canada to roll-out the run across the United States," Berman said. "This year, we'll have runs in more than a dozen American cities including Phoenix, Denver, Minneapolis, LA, San Fran, Charlotte, Dayton and New Orleans."
Berman keeps the New York event non-competitive. Families participate. Fun matters, he said. The Four Seasons Hotels and the Canadian Association of New York provide support without being official sponsors.