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Here is the official announcement of the result of 3 years of talks and who knows how much cost and energy. I am not in a position to cast blame for the failure of these talks because I have not been involved directly. I will say two things. One is that I have been a proponent of more collaboration and unity among PD organizations since my day 1 (7 years ago), and in many ways the community is much more unified now than it has been in all those years. The boards of these organizations (and the others not involved in the merger talks) should know that the community wants unity. The other comment is that I have worked closely with Robin Elliott for nearly 5 years and I have seen numerous occassions where he has put the interests of the community above his own interests and the interests of his particular organization. I often say he is the leading statesman in the PD community if not the only one. Perry Cohen Washington DC ------ Dear Friends, The Parkinson s Disease Foundation regretfully announces that its efforts to merge with the Miami-based National Parkinson Foundation have not succeeded. Unfortunately, the gulf between the organizational cultures and methods of governance of the two foundations proved to be too wide to be bridged. Although a merger could not be effected at this time, we trust that both foundations will collaborate on policies and programs when the occasion arises, especially for public advocacy in national affairs, where the unity and universal participation of all parts of the Parkinson community are essential. We hope also to cooperate in research funding and public education. We extend our best wishes to the National Parkinson Foundation and recommit ourselves to strengthening our own capacity for research on Parkinson disease and to serve the Parkinson disease community. Signed for the Parkinson s Disease Foundation: Lewis P. Rowland, MD, President Stanley Fahn, MD, Scientific Director Robin A. Elliott, Executive Director ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn