Kind. Fierce. Generous. Funny. Brilliant.
Cynthia (Cindy) Rubin, the second Board President of Young Survival Coalition (YSC) and founding member, passed away on Tuesday, October 20th, leaving her indelible mark on the breast cancer community and all young women affected by breast cancer. Her rich legacy, kind heart, generous spirit, memorable laugh, fierce honesty and endless energy touched too many lives to mention. She was initially diagnosed with breast cancer at age 36 in 1998.
Her brilliant pioneering efforts brought YSC into the forefront of those committed to improving the quantity and quality of life for young survivors, friends and their families. Cindy led with a fierce determination to change as many lives as possible while still caring about the individual members of our community. She brought YSC’s bold mission to the media, the NBA and even the White House. Cindy was the visionary behind YSC’s collaboration with author and filmmaker Beth Murphy. The partnership between YSC and the filmmaker created the Lifetime® documentary; Fighting For Our Future: How Young Women Find Strength, Hope and Courage While Taking Control of Breast Cancer and a book of the same title. Cindy put YSC on the map! And when we were young and struggling, she constantly pulled us up financially and spiritually.
She and her husband, Peter, gave selflessly in so many ways. Cindy launched the effort behind In Living Pink, YSC’s annual fundraiser. Peter often brought the backdrops and worked to set the mood so that Cindy and the committee could host those first fundraisers with incredible personal outreach to everyone in the room. She gave to the YSC no less than she asked others to give.
Peter participated in many Tour de Pink fundraising rides. YSC could count on the couple for donated office and home space for YSC events. Both were beyond generous because they knew how important it was that no young woman felt alone in her fight with breast cancer.
Cindy served on YSC’s Board of Directors from 1998-2008. In addition, she served on the Board of Directors of Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert (JALBCA) and Sanctuary for Families. She selflessly contributed to each organization always thinking of others first.
YSC is stronger because of all that Cindy gave to us. She was 53 years young when she died of metastatic breast cancer. She lived her life enthusiastically and traveled the world with a voracious appetite for knowledge, art and food unique to each culture. She had an energy level that required working out every day.
On behalf of YSC’s Board of Directors, CEO and staff, this tribute was written by Melody Morrow, Joy Simha, Roberta Levy-Schwartz, Lori Atkinson and Stacy Lewis.
We encourage you to share your personal thoughts honoring Cindy by leaving a comment below.
