Our Namesake

Gilda’s Club is named for Gilda Radner (1946-1989), the comedian and beloved star of NBC’s Saturday Night Live.  When Gilda was first diagnosed with cancer, she visited a cancer support community in the Los Angeles area.  There she found a group of people who truly understood the isolation and anger she felt; her confusion about treatments, relationships and sexuality; her hair loss; and the thousand other daily challenges that face people with cancer.  

Gilda soon realized that “Cancer is the most unfunny thing in life”.  Now medical science is proving that humor has healing qualities.  It was Gilda’s wish that there should be places where people can gather to share their experiences when living with cancer, whether with laughter or tears.

Three years after she passed away, inspired by her wish and the program she attended, Joanne Bull, Gilda’s cancer psychotherapist, along with Gilda’s husband Gene Wilder, the actor Mandy Patinkin, and ABC entertainment critic Joel Siegel, founded the first Gilda’s Club. Through early sponsors, like People Magazine, Vanity Fair Intimates, and Sears, along with hundreds of generous individuals, Gilda’s Club opened it’s signature red door in New York City in June of 1995.

Gilda Radner wished for there to be hundreds of places for people to gather were they could share they hopes, fears, joy and sorrow. She knew that life was a marvelous and sometimes frightening journey.

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.” --Gilda Radner

Gilda's Club is coming to Atlanta. Please join our volunteer family or donate online to help us open our doors.