Jenifer Estess (February 17, 1963 – December 16, 2003) was a

Moline, Illinois Moline ( ) is a city in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. With a population of 42,985 in the 2020 census, it is the largest city in Rock Island County and the List of municipalities in Illinois, ninth-most populous in Illinois outside ...

-born theatre producer. She began her career as an actor after graduating from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

with a B.A. in

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

. Estess was a co-founder of Naked Angels theatre company in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

; she was its producing director until 1993. She helped found the

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island in the state of Massachusetts in the United States, about south of the Cape Cod peninsula. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck Island, Tuckernuck and Muskeget Island, Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and Co ...

Film Festival and the New York Women's Film Festival. Her memoir, ''Tales from the Bed: Living, Dying and Having It All'', was published posthumously in 2004, while a

TV movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terrest ...

of her life had previously been aired on CBS in 2001, titled ''Jenifer'', which starred Laura San Giacomo in the title role. Estess also started Project ALS, which raises funds for finding a cure for

Lou Gehrig's disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and lo ...

, from which she suffered. She helped raise over $17,000,000 (

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

) for the Project. In 2000, Estess testified before Senator

Arlen Specter Arlen Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was an American lawyer, author and politician who served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1981 to 2011. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican fr ...

’s sub-committee on Labor, Health, Human Services and Education. "My life and millions of others are in the hands of Congress. We are already seeing the incredible potential of stem cells to replace what is destroyed in ALS, but we need the federal government to mentor research along in the most responsible, humane way." Pointing out that, "non-profits like Project A.L.S. and private industry have started stem cell replacement on the right track," she urged Congress to "do the right thing and take us to the next level with this life-saving science."

Death

Jenifer Estess died from A.L.S. on December 16, 2003, aged 40, at her apartment in Manhattan.

References

Sources

"Jenifer Estess, 40; Fought Lou Gehrig's Disease"
''The New York Times'', December 17, 2003. 1963 births 2003 deaths American activists American theatre managers and producers Deaths from motor neuron disease in New York (state) Tisch School of the Arts alumni People from Moline, Illinois {{US-actor-stub