00:00:00 We're going to take the young man into his card trick, so can you bring that down?

00:00:18 We begin tonight with the introduction of a very young man, obviously our youngest guest tonight, Jeremy Carton.

00:00:26 And Jeremy is going to show us his favorite card trick.

00:00:32 Well, can I borrow a napkin from someone?

00:00:55 How many cards do you see?

00:00:59 Five.

00:01:01 Three cards disappear.

00:01:17 Abracadabra.

00:01:20 One.

00:01:38 Two.

00:01:43 Lovely.

00:01:57 Syntex, two very remarkable men.

00:02:06 Before we do that, I want to say it's also a real pleasure to welcome some very special guests tonight.

00:02:12 Family, friends, colleagues of Marvyn and Howard, some of whom have also made some very significant contributions to Syntex.

00:02:21 First, a warm welcome to the Carton family, beginning with David and Pamela Carton.

00:02:27 David, of course, was the head of our legal department for many years, and thank you, David, for all of your splendid efforts.

00:02:35 Another warm welcome to Marvyn's son, John Carton.

00:02:40 John, it's nice to see you here.

00:02:43 Dana Carton had planned to be with us tonight, but developed the flu yesterday and couldn't fly out.

00:02:50 Obviously, a very special welcome to Christine and to that wonderful young man, Jeremy.

00:03:02 A big abrazo to Daniel Danish.

00:03:05 Together with George.

00:03:09 It has been such an important part of Syntex for many years, in Mexico, in Palo Alto, in Zurich.

00:03:17 It's wonderful to see you here, and thank you for coming such a long way to join us tonight.

00:03:23 A very special welcome to Carl Djerassi and Diane Middlebrook.

00:03:28 Carl, as all of you know, as president of Syntex Research, was a key member of Syntex management

00:03:35 and a key member of the Syntex board for many, many years.

00:03:39 Carl made some superlative contributions to Syntex.

00:03:45 Carl and Diane are a warm welcome.

00:03:48 On this very special evening, it's a real pleasure to recognize Carol Holtzmann

00:03:54 and to say thank you, Carol, for all of your efforts, all of your support to Syntex,

00:04:00 which you've shown in so many ways over so many years.

00:04:03 Thank you, Carol.

00:04:10 Another warm welcome to Howard's daughter and son-in-law, Suzy and George Richardson.

00:04:16 They, too, have been an important part of Syntex for many years.

00:04:20 George, as you know, is a partner of Holtzman, Wise, and Shepard in the Palo Alto office

00:04:25 and has worked very closely with Syntex for many years.

00:04:29 And Suzy's been close to Syntex since she was a little girl.

00:04:33 It's wonderful to see both of you here.

00:04:36 Another very warm welcome to a very special lady, Davida Simon.

00:04:42 Davida and Leon, God bless them, were a key part of Syntex for many years

00:04:50 and were with us in the early days in Mexico and then in Palo Alto.

00:04:55 And it's wonderful you could be here with us tonight, Davida. Thank you.

00:04:59 Last but by no means least, it's a real pleasure to welcome Nick and Davida.

00:05:05 Longtime members of the Syntex family, going back to our early days in Mexico together.

00:05:10 Nick also worked in Panama and later in Palo Alto

00:05:14 and made many major contributions to Syntex over many years.

00:05:18 It's a real treat to see Nick and Davida here tonight.

00:05:26 A number of people could not be here tonight whom we miss very much

00:05:31 and who have had long and valuable associations with Syntex

00:05:35 and also contributed to our success.

00:05:38 Ben and Sonia O'Sullivan and Alex Alida Zaffaroni.

00:05:43 Ben was not well enough to travel, but I know that all of you joined me

00:05:48 in wishing Ben a very speedy recovery to good health

00:05:53 and we welcome the time of Ben to be back in Palo Alto working with us once again.

00:05:59 Alex and Alida are traveling and I'm very sorry that they could not be here tonight.

00:06:07 Tony and Connie Solomon could not be here tonight.

00:06:10 Tony, I think, was called to some urgent business as a result of the financial crisis this week

00:06:16 and couldn't make our board meeting today.

00:06:20 Diane and Fran Levitt had some real prior commitments and caught an airplane late this afternoon.

00:06:28 Danielle and Bernadette couldn't be with us,

00:06:34 but I will read you a telegram that Danielle sent to both Howard and to Marvyn.

00:06:43 And Jerry and Ricky Rosencrantz who wouldn't be here if they could have.

00:06:48 Ricky's got to go to school in city medicine and he couldn't be here

00:06:53 and Jerry's negotiating an important deal in Italy.

00:07:00 As we look back over the last 30 plus years that Marvyn and Howard have been on the Syntex Board,

00:07:07 we all recognize that it's been 30 years of very remarkable achievements.

00:07:13 What better person to tell us about those early days and give us the inside scoop

00:07:19 on those charismatic characters, Marvyn and Howard, than our founding chairman, George Rosencrantz.

00:07:25 George?

00:07:44 Good evening, my friends.

00:07:47 Thank you very much for it.

00:07:51 I have very much been looking forward to this evening,

00:07:55 for it not only gives us the opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of two of our dearest colleagues,

00:08:05 but it also permits me to reminisce a bit about our time together these past 30 years.

00:08:14 I remember this time so very fondly.

00:08:18 Many of my memories stem from our first four meetings.

00:08:22 In those days, our board was more like a management committee made up of Marvyn, Howard, Alex, Carl, Bert, and me.

00:08:35 We devoted our time and love to building a company together.

00:08:41 These early days set the tone for all that was to follow.

00:08:47 In these first meetings, we laid the foundation for the principles which have always guided Syntex.

00:08:54 Principles of trust, excellence, honesty, loyalty, integrity, and hard work.

00:09:04 These principles have never changed, but they have been rediscovered by many writers of contemporary management principles.

00:09:13 Today, these principles are as important to business everywhere as they were to our small company in Mexico in 1967.

00:09:27 Although we hardly knew each other, the chemistry was there from the very first moment.

00:09:36 Our friendships have grown steadily over the years.

00:09:43 I have a couple of slides which I can show you.

00:09:52 We now have a lower decibel level at our board meetings and management committee meetings.

00:10:00 I must say that Carl Djerassi and Alex Zaffaroni also did their bit to contribute to the decibel level in those earliest days.

00:10:10 This is a photograph of one of the first Syntex essay, not cooperation, but Syntex essay board meetings.

00:10:19 Well, if you have any questions for the people who are on the table, I should have you reporting people.

00:10:31 I don't know if you can see it, but it pulls up.

00:10:38 It shows how long the wave was when I was in the ranch home.

00:10:42 Of course, everybody knows who this guy is.

00:10:49 He's Marty Clarkson.

00:10:52 This is Reynolds. I don't know if you know him.

00:11:01 He was one of our first board members in Mexico.

00:11:06 He was also the inventor of the famous ballpoint pen.

00:11:10 You know the ballpoint pen?

00:11:12 He drove under water, which made six copies, but no origin.

00:11:21 This one here is Vicio Largus.

00:11:24 Now, you fellows here recognize me?

00:11:28 Well, this is a local. This guy here is.

00:11:31 And this is Alex Zaffaroni.

00:11:36 This was Malcolm Little.

00:11:44 Now, Malcolm Little.

00:11:48 This guy, I think, I'm not quite sure.

00:11:54 I think it was called Hillary Clinton.

00:11:58 And this fellow here.

00:12:03 I bet Marty won't forget this.

00:12:05 This was our first thrashing.

00:12:08 This is him.

00:12:15 Okay.

00:12:18 Well, I wish that in addition to slides, maybe we'd have audio tapes

00:12:27 so that we could have recorded some of the arguments in our decision-making process.

00:12:34 It didn't sound much like managing a sandbox.

00:12:39 But somehow we managed to make many correct decisions

00:12:43 and to become fast friends at the same time.

00:12:48 In thinking about some of our good times together,

00:12:54 I wanted to share with you a few of my favorite stories about Marvyn and about Howard.

00:13:00 I think you'll recognize a few characteristics which you have come to know and love in each of them.

00:13:08 But a few of their quirks may be new to some of you.

00:13:13 I'll begin out of that category.

00:13:17 Here's one.

00:13:21 Here you have one.

00:13:24 All of you know Marv and his many interests.

00:13:30 There is Marv the sailor, racing his boat from San Francisco to Honolulu.

00:13:36 And then there is Marv the skier, chasing down the Swiss Alps.

00:13:42 But do you fellows know Marv the explorer?

00:13:48 One of the things I like best about Marv is that he always wants to get to the bottom or to the top of everything.

00:13:58 For example, in the earliest days of our collaboration,

00:14:03 he insisted on going to see where the famous Babasco root grows.

00:14:09 That meant that he had to go into the jungle.

00:14:15 Across the flooded Papaloapan River on a ferry boat, fighting off insects, wild animals, and tropical diseases.

00:14:24 Would you believe that Mexican folklore has that?

00:14:30 There were even crocodiles that Marvyn wrestled with his bare hands.

00:14:36 Another time Marvyn wanted to get photographic shots of Syntex from unusual angles.

00:14:43 This is an authentic story. I'm not making this up.

00:14:48 He was not satisfied with shots from the street.

00:14:53 He insisted that a photographer climb up the water tower to get a good shot of Syntex from unusual angles.

00:15:00 And just to be sure, he got it right.

00:15:05 Marvyn climbed right up behind him.

00:15:10 This, as you can see, is a very tall water tower in the shape of a huge donut or a bagel.

00:15:15 To the ladder in the middle. There is the ladder.

00:15:20 Up the ladder and to the top he went.

00:15:25 Up the ladder and to the top he went.

00:15:30 No wonder that the photographer didn't accept any assignments from Syntex after that.

00:15:35 Alright.

00:15:40 But we were able to get another photographer to shoot a momentous occasion in Syntex's history.

00:15:50 It was groundbreaking for our power of resilience.

00:15:55 This time Marv let the photographer stay on the ground.

00:16:00 I think you know everybody on that.

00:16:05 Maybe this person is the one, Joe McKenzie, who was our first financial VP.

00:16:15 If I'm not mistaken.

00:16:20 Marv also had a cure for every financial problem or condition we faced.

00:16:30 His cure-all solution was convertible dimensions.

00:16:35 Obviously, a panacea for whatever ailed us.

00:16:40 This convinced me in those early days that Marv must have secretly been in the possession of the philosopher's stone.

00:16:49 You know the philosopher's stone or the famous stone of the alchemist which converted every material into gold.

00:16:57 I knew immediately that he was the right person for the pharmaceutical industry.

00:17:02 His financial acumen over the years must prove me correct.

00:17:09 Now I have a few favorite stories about how I joined the board of Syntex Corporation together with Marv at the very beginning.

00:17:24 I first had a chance to get to know him on a memorable trip to Puerto Rico and back by the Cuba.

00:17:31 He began giving me my legal education then and he has never stopped.

00:17:38 He has continued to try to instruct me in the finer points of the law on many trips across various countries and three continents.

00:17:49 And even after 30 years, there's obviously more virtues to do.

00:17:54 I want Howard to tell you later about the famous antitrust suit when he went to Acapulco to help save the company.

00:18:05 As you know, Howard is a master at crafting novel agreements.

00:18:13 Research agreements, distribution agreements, joint venture agreements, and many more.

00:18:19 Every agreement is important.

00:18:22 And Howard looked at them as artifacts, as beautiful objects, as beautiful tools on the stage.

00:18:30 Now, it wasn't enough that Howard drafted all these unusual agreements.

00:18:35 He also made sure that all met the sleep test.

00:18:41 This was not a typical sleep test, however.

00:18:44 It had nothing to do with REM or circadian rhythms, nor was any animal modeling.

00:18:53 This was one test the animal rights people would love.

00:18:58 Instead, if one of us woke up at 3 a.m. wondering whether the agreement we had reached was right or wrong,

00:19:09 he'd take me past the sleep test, and we had to renegotiate the whole deal.

00:19:17 Of course, all these unusual deals had to be explained when we first went public.

00:19:27 But Howard made sure our documents would meet those rigorous tests.

00:19:33 Here we are celebrating our birth as a public company.

00:19:39 We recognize that there are, I guess, three phases of your development.

00:19:44 First of all, you are a believer.

00:19:48 Secondly, at least you're a believer.

00:19:52 Thirdly, it's a reward.

00:19:54 Fourthly, it's a punishment.

00:19:57 Fifthly, it's an outcome.

00:19:59 One of the many things you may not know about Howard is that he's always been suspicious of scientists.

00:20:16 He didn't want anything to do with them.

00:20:21 I remember an American home product was interested in buying Syntex.

00:20:27 Howard wasn't ever able to get the Alvin Brush at the top of American Home Products to negotiate the deal,

00:20:34 because, as he said, he had to peel all the layers of the onion.

00:20:40 To paraphrase Maurice Chevalier and Gigi, I say, thank goodness for onions.

00:20:50 Howard has also demonstrated a great talent as a songwriter.

00:20:56 When he was at Yale, he was involved in several musicals, or so he is told.

00:21:01 Now, at Syntex, we have our own Rodgers and Hammerstein team,

00:21:06 fondly known as Howard Holtzmann and Ben O'Sullivan.

00:21:10 Who can ever forget the grandest moment during the IFL acquisition

00:21:16 when they composed the famous song entitled Parale-O-O, Verghese-O-O-O-O,

00:21:25 mistakenly attributed to Domenico Modugno and popularized as Olark.

00:21:31 The IFL deal was also one of Burt Bauer's ventures into the international area,

00:21:40 but he decided to stick to science and other methods more closely related to Syntex.

00:21:46 One thing about Howard that hasn't changed over the years is his very serious interpretation of what is appearing to have happened.

00:21:54 His middle-of-night phone calls, his all-night meetings.

00:22:00 I remember that, as a strange coincidence, our crisis always happened at night.

00:22:07 And that was okay, because it suited Howard's working habits.

00:22:11 And he also insisted that everybody had to be present.

00:22:15 Go to anyone who would leave before he was ready to go home.

00:22:19 But he also loved the way he wants us to give undivided attention to problems of health.

00:22:29 By now, we have gotten accustomed to your ways.

00:22:36 And we have come to anticipate that it will take us through innumerable drafts of everything.

00:22:44 But we can't, and don't feel comfortable, because there are these drafts.

00:22:49 I could go on and on to state these stories about my dear friends who are retired,

00:22:54 but I want to save time for Burt to share some more recent accomplishments.

00:23:00 Let me conclude with two comments on friendship that say so beautifully what knowing Mark and Howard has meant to me and to my family over these past 30 years.

00:23:14 Both are from Ecclesiasticus I.

00:23:19 Forsake not an old friend, for the new is not comparable to him.

00:23:26 A new friend is as new wine.

00:23:29 When it is old, thou shalt drink it with pleasure.

00:23:34 And the second is prophetic for describing our time together.

00:23:39 A faithful friend is the medicine of life.

00:23:44 My friends, a toast for Mark and Howard.

00:23:55 Thank you.

00:23:58 Thank you, George, those were really very nice words.

00:24:25 I have two things I would like to read to you.

00:24:38 One is a message from Daniel Sinag.

00:24:41 And Daniel says, I regret I'm not able to be with all the members attending the dinner party tonight.

00:24:49 I want to express my congratulations to Marvyn Carton and Howard Holtzmann for their dedication to Syntex and for their services rendered to the company during more than 30 years.

00:25:00 With my warmest wishes and best regards to all, Daniel Sinag.

00:25:06 I want to read you a poem which is entitled An Ode to Marvyn Howard by Ricky Rosencrantz.

00:25:17 Syntex friends, you are indeed with 30 years of deed and deed.

00:25:26 But I love you even more, you saw me crawling on the floor.

00:25:32 You've been with us through good and bad.

00:25:35 A better friend we've never had.

00:25:38 Always there with good advice.

00:25:41 When you speak, it feels nice.

00:25:44 You're wise and witty and never fail.

00:25:48 To state your point.

00:25:51 I said a few minutes ago that we've had more than 30 remarkable years since the company was reorganized in 1956.

00:26:05 And I want to show you one slide which is not the normal slide when we show a dinner like this.

00:26:10 I must confess it's one of my favorite slides.

00:26:13 We'll see why when I show it to you in a moment.

00:26:15 But it does depict so well just how remarkable our corporate performance has been since we went public in 1958.

00:26:32 It's a slide of numbers, but if you go back to the first year, fiscal 59, we had sales of 6.9 million dollars.

00:26:39 Last year we just broke a billion dollars.

00:26:42 We're doing 129 million dollars.

00:26:45 Syntex lost 550,000 dollars in 1959.

00:26:49 It earned 249 million dollars last year.

00:26:52 The earnings per share went from a negative one penny to 1987 to $198.72 a share.

00:27:02 That takes into consideration the stock has been split 96 times since the beginning.

00:27:09 So that's quite a growth.

00:27:11 We obviously paid the dividends in 1959 on the basis of a dollar a share this year and the stock has been split 96 times.

00:27:18 The dividend on the original share of Syntex stock is now $19.96.

00:27:25 You could have bought Syntex stock in the early days for about a couple of dollars.

00:27:29 When I've made this slide, it can't stop.

00:27:32 What if it were worth $4,320 a share, the original share?

00:27:40 It's still all right.

00:27:44 Today's total price is worth $3,360.

00:27:49 So it isn't bad.

00:27:51 It isn't bad.

00:27:52 I think that is a remarkable history of growth over many years.

00:27:59 I think you should also mention that Mark won us those $500,000 by selling 8,000 shares of our stock.

00:28:08 I see.

00:28:13 Well, clearly these results were due to the efforts of a lot of people and many of them are in this room tonight.

00:28:20 But there's no question that Marvyn and Howard, as founding members of the board and as financial and legal advisors to the company,

00:28:30 have given so much to help bring Syntex to where it is today.

00:28:36 Marvyn, as chairman of the finance committee, has guided us with a very conservative philosophy through good years and bad.

00:28:46 He has worked closely with us on a range of acquisitions and, as George said,

00:28:51 has been known to advocate convertible ventures or convertible preferreds on more than one occasion.

00:28:58 Marvyn's been a key player in our stock repurchase programs, which have given such a nice positive impact on our earnings per share.

00:29:07 He's been very supportive of our extensive capital investment programs around the world

00:29:13 and our ever-increasing investments in research.

00:29:17 Marvyn is also known for giving pithy pieces of advice.

00:29:22 I always remember one day he said to me, he said,

00:29:26 Bert, to be a successful manager, you really only have to have two qualities, speak British and think Yiddish.

00:29:42 Marvyn also played the lead role in working with New York Stock Exchange

00:29:47 as we moved to that exchange from the American Stock Exchange.

00:29:51 Marvyn was very persuasive and had a big impact with the exchange

00:29:55 as they drew up their short list of specialists for our stock.

00:29:59 And the fact that we have such a good specialist and that's a real asset to the company

00:30:03 is a real tribute to the efforts that Marvyn made as we made that transition.

00:30:09 But above all, Marvyn has been supportive of our company, extremely supportive of our company,

00:30:16 our management, our philosophy, and our goals.

00:30:21 And we thank you, Marvyn, very sincerely.

00:30:30 Let me turn now for a moment to Howard.

00:30:33 What can I say about a man who has been such an integral part of our company since the beginning?

00:30:38 We all have our Howard Holtzmann stories.

00:30:42 We're all familiar with Howard's management style,

00:30:45 which combines professionalism, dedication to the company,

00:30:50 a high intellect, and a flair for histrionics,

00:30:54 which at times warrants consideration for an Oscar.

00:30:58 But throughout all of Howard's more than 30 years as a Syntex board member,

00:31:03 he's constantly marshaled the wide range of impressive legal talents of Holtzmann, Wise, and Shepard

00:31:10 to ensure that we have always received top quality, dedicated legal advice and counsel

00:31:17 over a very broad range of legal and business issues.

00:31:21 Good lawyers in many ways are like good quality control chemists.

00:31:26 You never hear much about them unless something goes wrong.

00:31:29 But from time to time, things do go wrong,

00:31:33 and most of us have been privileged to see the unswerving, dedicated input from Howard in times of crisis.

00:31:43 I remember well the key role Howard played in helping us fight the FDA successfully,

00:31:52 when they were pressured by Senator Ted Kennedy and his staff to take naproxen off the marketplace in the 70s

00:31:59 because of the flawed toxicity study carried out by IBT.

00:32:03 The fight to save naproxen was really a turning point in the history of Syntex.

00:32:09 Not too long after that, we ran into the near-Mosul crisis,

00:32:14 which resulted in lawsuits and a fight with ABC television

00:32:19 about a very biased, misleading report by Geraldo Rivera on 2020.

00:32:25 I'll also never forget the draft of the letter that Howard wrote when he descended to the chairman of ABC.

00:32:32 It was a masterpiece, but it was so inflammatory that he might have to tone it down,

00:32:37 and it's the only time I can remember when I was more conciliatory than Howard.

00:32:44 Howard, who was chairman of our compensation committee until he moved to Holland,

00:32:49 helped us formulate a very sound compensation policy for the company,

00:32:54 which has been instrumental in helping us attract and retain virtually all the talented people who make up the management of this company.

00:33:03 I can obviously add to the list many more things,

00:33:08 but before I give up the podium, I want to say one last thing about Howard.

00:33:13 And that is Howard is a man of unswerving loyalty to the institutions that he serves.

00:33:20 Howard serves his country, his profession, his law firm, and Syntex with passion, with integrity, and intellect.

00:33:31 Howard, thank you.

00:33:33 And to both of you, Marvyn and Howard, two men who have Syntex tattooed on their hearts,

00:33:44 we salute you as good friends and comrades who have fought along the battles together.

00:33:50 We'd like to express our affection and gratitude to both of you,

00:33:56 and to help you remember what is a very special occasion for us.

00:34:01 We'd like to present you with a small token of our appreciation for all that you've done for us.

00:34:06 Would you all take a moment to help me, please?

00:34:08 And Marvyn and Howard.

00:34:16 This is from Marvyn.

00:34:19 I want to read what it says inside this box.

00:34:23 There is a light.

00:34:25 This is presented to Marvyn Carton.

00:34:28 The other one says presented to Howard Holtzmann.

00:34:31 One of the founding board members of Syntex Corporation, your constant encouragement,

00:34:37 diligent counsel, and unfailing support in the past three decades

00:34:43 have made an indispensable contribution to the growth and success of the corporation.

00:34:50 All of us at Syntex are deeply indebted to your dedicated efforts and warm personal friendship.

00:34:58 What this is, this is a very handcrafted jewelry box.

00:35:06 I'll give you a little bit of the history of the craftsmanship that went into these two boxes.

00:35:17 The artist is a man called Tony Litgate, who was a master craftsman in wood.

00:35:23 But in tradition with Syntex, he has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

00:35:31 But he spent a lifetime collecting woods and crafted them into beautiful art pieces.

00:35:38 And this is a token of our appreciation to both of you for the many, many wonderful years that we've had with you.

00:35:53 And thank you very much indeed for being here.

00:36:04 I suspect that some rebuttal is in order.

00:36:09 And Marvyn, if you would like to move forward. The podium is yours.

00:36:23 Thank you.

00:36:38 A dear friend who was here in the audience this evening said,

00:36:44 well, we're going to spend the night with the art company.

00:36:48 I said, well, that sounds like an amusing possibility.

00:36:53 Would you like to say a few words?

00:36:56 He said, no, he didn't think you wanted to hear how it feels.

00:37:00 I've always taken it for granted that I would get art so I didn't think anything about this.

00:37:09 I didn't see how it would be particularly hurtful, especially if I didn't find it.

00:37:17 One thing is for sure.

00:37:19 Howard is passionately devoted to this company.

00:37:23 At times his involvement and anxiety serve on the company.

00:37:30 It's so intense that it gets slightly emotional.

00:37:42 But this isn't hard.

00:37:44 This is just strange.

00:37:47 Looking back on my experiences with Syntex for 30 years,

00:37:57 it's like a stream of consciousness, little vignettes here and there.

00:38:08 First thing I think of was when Howard and I went off to DC3

00:38:13 to Detroit to meet with a fellow named Carl Djerassi

00:38:19 to induce him to come back to Syntex.

00:38:23 I had a research.

00:38:25 We met at that time.

00:38:29 I think you might have had something done to your leg.

00:38:33 You couldn't come down to Mexico.

00:38:36 But things eventually worked out.

00:38:38 He came back for it.

00:38:41 We redeemed you from the realms of academia for a short time.

00:38:48 Then I think we received a summons from the Federal Grand Jury in New York

00:38:57 on antitrust action.

00:39:03 General Electric and ourselves.

00:39:05 It's amusing to contemplate from this distance

00:39:09 but at the time it was a little worrisome.

00:39:12 However, we ended up by signing a consent not to do something

00:39:19 we weren't doing in the first place.

00:39:23 One other thing that I think of is a meeting that we had in 1968.

00:39:29 I'm sorry, Alex Zaffaroni isn't here tonight.

00:39:34 Alex, at the time, was on a call.

00:39:38 His heart set on getting a drug-delivering business,

00:39:42 which French Endeavor was chaired by a number of people in research.

00:39:52 Alex wanted to pursue his quest elsewhere.

00:39:59 We were meeting at the Presidente Hotel in Guadalajara, Mexico City.

00:40:04 George was there.

00:40:06 Paul was there.

00:40:08 Robert was there.

00:40:10 Alex was there.

00:40:12 It started off at a 40 decibel level and went up from there.

00:40:19 About midnight, it was really horrendous.

00:40:24 I just couldn't take it anymore.

00:40:27 I went downstairs.

00:40:29 There was a group of mariachis that just finished their number

00:40:33 and were taking an intermission at midnight.

00:40:36 So I rented a made-of-gear with a made-of-gear family.

00:40:41 I borrowed these guys for 10 minutes.

00:40:46 Seven mariachis.

00:40:48 They had nice hats.

00:40:51 They had the usual uniforms.

00:40:53 They had Dino Daniels.

00:40:55 I went upstairs.

00:40:58 I opened the door of the suite.

00:41:00 The noise was still going on.

00:41:02 It started off with Guantanamera.

00:41:09 I remember Alex's face.

00:41:12 We walked in.

00:41:15 When I had left the downstairs, he was saying something in Spanish to George.

00:41:22 Words I'd never heard before.

00:41:25 He wasn't smiling.

00:41:29 At any rate, after about three numbers, things started quieting down.

00:41:33 Those mariachis disappeared, and so Alza was born.

00:41:39 There are a number of other things.

00:41:41 There's Howard's magnificent contribution, which is well-described by Bert.

00:41:50 End of the Proxen Crisis.

00:41:54 Howard is the most unusual man.

00:41:56 He has many parts.

00:41:58 As a boy, he was meticulous.

00:42:01 And he's unique in his uncanny ability to retain the thread of his reasoning

00:42:10 through labyrinths of conflict and confusion.

00:42:15 He's a true modus operandi.

00:42:18 You may not know this, but Howard has written children's stories,

00:42:22 which I thought were a marvelous time.

00:42:24 No story that I've seen unpublished.

00:42:29 While Howard can be a fierce antagonist in a legal skirmish,

00:42:34 or otherwise, on a personal basis, he's one of the most compassionate men I know.

00:42:43 I remember well when my daughter died in an auto accident.

00:42:47 Howard said a few words at a memorial service,

00:42:51 and even in the agony of that time, I felt real comfort.

00:42:58 I can count his great company fortunate to have had this man as a supporter,

00:43:05 a friend, and an advocate for all his years.

00:43:09 And by the way, my friend Howard is a lyricist,

00:43:13 and perhaps he wants to say a few words himself.

00:43:29 Well, I, really the word I want to say is gratitude.

00:43:35 I'm extraordinarily grateful this evening.

00:43:41 Grateful for the very lovely words that have been said,

00:43:45 a very lovely gift which is given.

00:43:49 I'm flabbergasted to hear some of the words from Marvyn.

00:43:54 I never thought that he returned the tremendous admiration that I've had for him.

00:44:02 Nobody really knows what an investment banker is,

00:44:04 the British call them merchant bankers.

00:44:07 I'm not sure I know yet what an investment banker is,

00:44:11 except he's somebody who sees that you don't spend too much money when you have it,

00:44:16 who always sees that you have money to spend when you don't have it.

00:44:22 And Marvyn has always done that.

00:44:26 I'm particularly grateful for all of you who've come to see me.

00:44:31 I'm touched to see such old and treasured friends here.

00:44:37 I'm touched that Inga Dennis has come all the way from Zurich.

00:44:43 I'm touched that Vida is here.

00:44:46 It literally makes the years fade away to see Carl and Nick, Vida and Eva in the same room.

00:44:57 That really does touch me, and I'm sure it touches Marvyn.

00:45:03 That is not to say that I'm not equally grateful for those of you whom I see more regularly,

00:45:11 for your kindness in coming here and being with us and sharing this.

00:45:17 I have noticed that one word that has come up in almost every speech,

00:45:26 everybody who's spoken thus far, is the word passion.

00:45:32 And I'm reminded of some words that Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote using the word passion,

00:45:41 and he's always been an idol of mine.

00:45:44 Holmes said,

00:45:48 Life is action and passion,

00:45:53 and a man is required to share the action and passion of his times,

00:45:59 lest he be judged not to have lived at all.

00:46:04 And I thank those of you who use the word passion for reminding me of that quotation.

00:46:12 Because I think that over the years, I have been privileged by Syntex

00:46:19 to share in some of the action and the passion of my time.

00:46:25 Action and passion, new scientific development, that always comes first in Syntex.

00:46:33 I think the proudest I am of anything I ever did or didn't do in Syntex

00:46:40 is that in 30 years I've never voted to cut one penny from the research budget.

00:46:45 And I mean that.

00:46:47 Action, well, we were in the forefront of a development which we didn't even have a name then.

00:47:01 It's now called building a multinational company.

00:47:04 When Nikki and I went to Paris and to London on my very first trip,

00:47:10 the result of which I'm capable of being called an international lawyer by people who don't know me better,

00:47:17 it was the first flush of multinationalism, really.

00:47:23 Certainly for Syntex. And there wasn't very much we could copy.

00:47:27 Somebody was kind enough to mention that Susie had grown up with Syntex.

00:47:32 And all I could think of when they said that was that in our household, when she was very young,

00:47:39 and before we came to Mexico for the first time, whenever her table manners were poor,

00:47:44 somebody would say to her, mostly her mother, is that the way you're going to act at the Rosencrantz's?

00:47:51 I can report that as a result of that, her table manners were quite acceptable.

00:48:00 Somebody has mentioned the antitrust suit, which was the first great crisis,

00:48:08 and I'm certainly not going to take you through all that.

00:48:10 Other than to tell you that there was a grand jury and there was a man named Charles Cicchini who appeared before it,

00:48:18 and I was trying to tell him the night before that he shouldn't be worried,

00:48:22 and Charles Cicchini looked at me and said, Howard, I'm not worried by that grand jury.

00:48:27 I have been interrogated by the Gestapo.

00:48:31 And he had great faith in me.

00:48:35 And the only other thing I'll tell you about that antitrust suit,

00:48:38 yes, indeed, we had a consent decree.

00:48:41 They wanted to take away all of our patents.

00:48:45 And if they'd taken away our patents, we wouldn't have had Norinyl.

00:48:50 And I think even similar, I'm not sure.

00:48:53 It went all the way back to our earliest steroid patents,

00:48:57 and we were supposed to give them all up because we had gotten them by ill-gained means.

00:49:03 And we didn't give those patents up, we did give up a group of patents.

00:49:09 And Leon Simon, God bless him, picked those patents, and they were reviewed.

00:49:16 We were very honest with everybody.

00:49:19 Those patents were reviewed by the Patent Office and reviewed by the Department of Justice.

00:49:24 They gave us a consent decree because we agreed that we would give royalty-bearing licenses to those patents

00:49:32 that were on that list when we settled the case.

00:49:35 And that list was picked with such brilliance by Leon, God knows not by me,

00:49:42 that nobody in 30 years has asked for a license on any one of those patents.

00:49:51 Well, I have been making speeches at Syntex for 30 years,

00:49:59 and I hadn't expected to speak this long this evening.

00:50:02 I decided that you all needed a rest, or at least you all deserved a rest from my making speeches,

00:50:09 so I'm not going to make a speech tonight.

00:50:12 Instead of that, Marvyn has consented to join me

00:50:17 in singing you a few songs about Syntex, written for this occasion,

00:50:25 and we call them the Syntex Medley.

00:50:29 And there's a lovely fellow who plays the accordion,

00:50:35 who has had a rehearsal of exactly seven minutes with us.

00:50:40 He's never had to do anything like this in his professional life, and we apologize to him,

00:50:46 but we're going to try.

00:50:52 The Syntex Medley covers the history of Syntex in a way,

00:50:58 since we have had something to do with it.

00:51:19 It was in May 1956 that we went.

00:51:29 South of the border, down Mexico Way.

00:51:39 There, we met George.

00:51:42 We met George.

00:51:52 Rosencrantz.

00:51:56 At the lab, or the space, don't watch him fly.

00:52:02 Rosencrantz.

00:52:05 Whatever he does, he's our guy.

00:52:10 He's our chance.

00:52:13 He'll make history at Syntex by and by.

00:52:19 Then we'll all be together with our arms around each other.

00:52:26 And this is our big romance.

00:52:30 Yes, we'll all be together with our arms around each other.

00:52:36 Rosencrantz.

00:52:38 Rosencrantz.

00:52:40 Rosencrantz.

00:52:59 To the tables down at Edith's.

00:53:04 To the cakes she bakes so well.

00:53:09 Where the sprinkles and the pastries are the best.

00:53:16 We will serenade our Edith.

00:53:21 And remember Annie dear.

00:53:25 And Lagos, and Sushimi, and the rest.

00:53:34 New products hit the market.

00:53:39 Profits soared.

00:53:41 And the world sang.

00:53:47 You're an elf.

00:53:51 Oh, what a lovely night for love.

00:53:57 Oh, my dear, don't sit still.

00:54:01 Go and take your Norinyl.

00:54:05 For real, for real.

00:54:09 What a lovely night for love.

00:54:13 Oh, my dear, don't sit still.

00:54:17 Go and take your Norinyl.

00:54:27 There's a bright golden haze on the options.

00:54:39 There's a bright golden haze on the options.

00:54:44 The stock is as high as an elephant's eye.

00:54:50 And it looks like it's climbing right up to the sky.

00:54:56 It was written last Sunday.

00:54:59 Oh, what a beautiful Syntex.

00:55:05 Oh, what a beautiful day.

00:55:09 We've got a beautiful Syntex.

00:55:14 Everything's going our way.

00:55:19 Soon, Carl Djerassi went to Palo Alto.

00:55:23 And Alex Zaffaroni had the idea that Syntex should go there, too.

00:55:28 So it was.

00:55:36 Look, look, look to Djerassi.

00:55:42 Follow him over the hills and the stream.

00:55:48 Go, go, go there with Alex.

00:55:53 Follow the fellows who follow a dream.

00:56:01 Follow the fellows who follow a dream.

00:56:09 And so it was.

00:56:11 California, here we come.

00:56:23 In Mexico we're coming from.

00:56:28 The flowers, bird flowers.

00:56:31 He blooms like the spring.

00:56:34 The morning, the dawning.

00:56:37 Of naprosyn and everything.

00:56:39 Hello, California, here we come.

00:56:45 It's Mexico we're coming from.

00:56:50 Hold them like you're golden.

00:56:54 It's California, here we come.

00:57:00 But you know, management never seemed satisfied.

00:57:05 They just kept on striving to grow.

00:57:07 To put a little bit more on top of what we already had.

00:57:20 Freed and free when Hans Wolf all scurry.

00:57:25 And the board is quite in a hurry.

00:57:30 And the board is quite in a hurry for a fridge.

00:57:34 For a fridge on top.

00:57:39 Marv and Howard see how they mutter.

00:57:43 As they watch those high-steppin' strutters.

00:57:48 As they watch those high-steppin' strutters.

00:57:52 Will they never stop?

00:57:55 As they rush and they scurry for a bid.

00:58:00 On the top.

00:58:03 And so pretty soon.

00:58:12 We got a billion-dollar baby.

00:58:17 At the five-and-ten cent store.

00:58:23 And to sum up, because we don't think he can take very long.

00:58:27 Certainly Louis can't. His father didn't give him lessons to do this.

00:58:34 To sum up our 30 years at Syntex.

00:58:44 We love Syntex in the springtime.

00:58:51 We love Syntex in the fall.

00:58:58 We love Syntex in the winter when it drizzles.

00:59:05 We love Syntex in the summer when it sizzles.

00:59:12 We love Syntex every hour.

00:59:19 Every moment of the year.

00:59:24 We love Syntex.

00:59:28 Why, oh why do we love Syntex?

00:59:33 Because our friends are here.

01:00:24 No, don't do this, since

01:00:27 You know, I felt a little bit better today, but it never feels great.

01:00:37 I think you need to go on the road. That was wonderful.

01:00:40 Did you like that?

01:00:42 You have so much talent. I think you'll wish to go to Congress and have some fun.

01:00:54 I'd just like to look over there.

01:01:00 I didn't realize you had to make that sound.

01:01:03 It really is stupid.

01:01:05 Yeah, but I like it.

01:01:08 Oh, I just have a couple of fingers.

01:01:27 That was a wonderful ending to it.

01:01:30 What talent. It was amazing.

01:01:33 It was amazing.

01:01:35 So many things to do.

01:01:45 I'd like a better investment if I could have a cigarette, but I can't.

01:02:54 Do you want to stand up to meet him?

01:03:21 Did you manage to get that all right?

01:03:23 Did you zoom in on it all right?

01:03:25 Yeah, yeah, good.

01:03:26 Good. It's going to be worth its weight in gold.

01:03:31 What do you pay for the tape for that?

01:03:32 You can't show it because you've got the wrong type of machine.

01:03:36 How much tape are you going to cost me?

01:03:38 I don't know. I would like to choose.

01:03:50 How are you doing?

01:04:12 Yes.

01:04:13 Good trick.

01:04:14 Thank you.

01:04:15 Fantastic.

01:04:16 I just don't want this.

01:05:02 George, you did a great job.

01:05:07 Congratulations.

01:05:29 Let's get together sometime.

01:05:35 You may.

01:05:36 You may, yes.

01:05:37 Yes.

01:05:38 That's all right.

01:05:39 That would be no heaven or hell.

01:05:41 Well, thank you.

01:05:42 Well, we'll see.

01:05:43 Have your book of poems.

01:05:47 Well, I'm looking forward to impacting your greatness.

01:05:52 This is marvel that I've been organizing for you.

01:05:54 How's she doing?

01:05:57 She's doing well.

01:05:58 She said, come in.

01:05:59 She said, choose.

01:06:01 Hey, look at the camera.

01:06:16 Why don't you take about three photographs all together, okay?

01:06:19 That's good right here.

01:06:21 That's great.

01:06:24 That was bright, huh?

01:06:26 Okay, look at me again.

01:06:27 Nice big smile this time.

01:06:29 Are you ready?

01:06:30 Yeah.

01:06:31 Okay.

01:06:32 There you go.

01:06:33 You magicians, what have you got up there?

01:06:37 That's nice.

01:06:38 That was nice.

01:06:39 That was a neat trick.

01:06:40 Right towards me again, please.

01:06:41 That's good.

01:06:42 And then one last one.

01:06:43 Are you ready?

01:06:44 Yeah.

01:06:45 Okay, that's good.

01:06:46 Right there.

01:06:47 That's great.

01:06:48 All right.

01:06:49 Thank you.

01:06:51 Go on.

01:06:52 That's good.

01:06:53 Right there.

01:06:54 That's perfect.

01:06:55 Okay, looking right this way.

01:06:56 That's good.

01:06:57 That's fine.

01:06:58 Right towards me.

01:06:59 Okay, that's good.

01:07:00 Right there.

01:07:01 There's a smile, Jeremy.

01:07:02 And one more.

01:07:03 One more.

01:07:04 One more.

01:07:05 All right.

01:07:06 That's good.

01:07:07 Right there.

01:07:08 That's good.

01:07:09 Okay, now I need a smile.

01:07:10 You guys ready?

01:07:11 All right.

01:07:12 One more.

01:07:13 That's good.

01:07:14 Right there.

01:07:15 That's good.

01:07:16 Look at that.

01:07:17 That's good.

01:07:18 That's good.

01:07:19 All right, one more.

01:07:20 One more, Jeremy.

01:07:21 Let me do one last one.

01:07:22 Jeremy, look right here.

01:07:23 That's good.

01:07:24 Right there.

01:07:25 Okay.

01:07:26 That was perfect.

01:07:27 Thank you.

01:08:28 All right.

01:08:29 Thank you.

01:08:30 That's good.

01:08:31 All right.

01:08:32 All right.

01:08:33 Thank you.

01:08:34 Thank you.

01:08:35 Thank you.

01:08:36 Thank you.

01:08:37 Thank you.

01:08:38 Not too much.

01:08:39 Good luck.

01:08:40 Okay.

01:08:41 That's fine.

01:08:42 Let's get rid of it.

01:08:43 That's good.

01:08:44 Just do one more.

01:08:45 Go ahead and do one more.

01:08:46 Go ahead and do a light shimmy on that right side there.

01:08:47 That's fine.

01:08:48 Okay.

01:08:49 That's good.

01:08:50 All right.

01:08:54 Go ahead and do a light shimmy on that right side there.

01:08:55 That's fine.

01:08:56 Okay.

01:08:57 That's good.

01:08:58 Look at me.

01:08:59 That's good.

01:09:00 Right there.

01:09:01 Where's that smile?

01:09:02 There you go.

01:09:03 Right there.

01:09:04 That's good.

01:09:05 Right there.

01:09:06 Do two more.

01:09:07 Okay.

01:09:08 Look at me.

01:09:09 That's good.

01:09:10 Okay.

01:09:11 We're going to do one more.

01:09:12 Put your hand on your shoulder.

01:09:13 That's good.

01:09:14 Okay.

01:09:15 That's good.

01:09:16 That's good.

01:09:17 That's good.

01:09:18 All right.

01:09:19 All right.

01:09:20 One more.

01:09:21 One more.

01:09:22 One more.

01:09:23 Can you put your hands on everybody's sides, please?

01:09:24 That's good.

01:09:25 Right there.

01:09:26 Go ahead.

01:09:27 Slip your arm around him.

01:09:28 That's good.

01:09:29 Okay.

01:09:30 Good.

01:09:31 Look right towards me again.

01:09:32 That's perfect.

01:09:33 Right there.

01:09:34 Big smiles.

01:09:35 Okay.

01:09:36 Great.

01:09:37 Thank you.

01:10:08 Right there.

01:10:09 That's good.

01:10:10 Right there.

01:10:11 Let me go sweep forward.

01:10:12 That's good.

01:10:13 Right there.

01:10:14 Perfect.

01:10:15 I just wanted to look at you.

01:10:16 Thank you.

01:10:47 That's good.

01:10:48 Right there.

01:10:49 Don't go.

01:10:50 That's good.

01:10:51 Looking right at me.

01:10:52 That's perfect.

01:10:53 Right there.

01:10:54 Good.

01:10:55 Good job.

01:11:26 She did that.

01:11:27 She did it.

01:11:28 She's not falling asleep.

01:11:29 Her card trick was wonderful.

01:11:30 Where'd you learn that card trick?

01:11:31 Did Dad show it to you?

01:11:34 No, it's not in the booklet.

01:11:48 Not in the booklet?

01:12:02 We'll be glad to do this.

01:12:12 Can you just tilt it?

01:12:14 That's fine. Okay. That's good.

01:12:16 That's great. Right there.

01:12:19 Looking straight towards me.

01:12:21 Yes, I think so, too.

01:12:23 That's good. Looking this way. That's good. Right there.

01:12:26 One more like that.

01:12:29 Okay, that's fine. Right there.

01:12:31 But looking at me.

01:12:33 That's great. Right there. Good.

01:12:36 How about a nice, good handshake for each other?

01:12:38 You have in these 30 years,

01:12:41 we here in America,

01:12:44 we here in America,

01:12:46 holding the hand of the people of the world.

01:12:51 Thank you.