The Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures presented its Lifesaver Award to Wally and Barbara Weitz at its thirteenth annual luncheon recognizing individuals who have long supported medical research in the state.
Wally Weitz is the founder of Weitz Investment Funds and Barbara Weitz recently retired from The Grace Abbott School of Social Work at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where she taught for more than 10 years.
The Weitzs met at Carleton College in Northfield, MN. Following graduation they lived in New York City while Wally worked for a small Wall Street firm. They returned to Omaha, where Barbara had lived, graduating from Westside High School. Weitz joined Chiles, Heider, a regional investment firm where he spent 10 years managing accounts for individuals and doing equity research before founding his own firm.
Strong supporters of medical research, Wally serves on the board of directors of the Nebraska Coalition and Barbara has a personal stake in protecting research after watching her sister die at age 55 after 52 years of fighting brittle juvenile diabetes and her father die of Parkinson’s disease.