The benefactor who gave the Susan G. Komen Foundation one of its first six-figure infusions in the 1980s remembers when she met Nancy Brinker, the organization’s founder. It was 30-plus years ago at a Dallas society ball. As Ruth Altshuler recalls, the British aristocrat Lord Mountbatten “was all but stopped blind” when he saw Brinker floating across the room. He turned to Altshuler and asked, “ ‘Who is that?’ because she was so beautiful” and charming.

For three decades, the relentless force of Nancy Brinker’s personality has been inextricably tied to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the behemoth she created in memory of her elder sister, who died of cancer at age 36. She has dedicated her life to it. She has pinned her ambitions on it.

She’s now in the news for it. Monday, amid the Planned Parenthood funding controversy that arose this month, the editor of industry publication the NonProfit Times called for Brinker’s resignation. Last week, a former board member of a Komen New York affiliate requested the same, illustrating the symbiosis between woman and mission.

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