ORGANIZATIONS
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1996:
The decade-long alliance that enabled
The Fund for Animals and People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals to take control of
the New England Anti-Vivisection Society in
1988, after failing in 1986, is at a messy but
uncertain end. Fund president Cleveland Amory,
also NEAVS board president since 1988, in late
1995 told fellow board members that he planned
to retire, and appointed a nominating committee
consisting of three board members including treasurer
Dick Janisch, Alex Pacheco of PETA, and
Boston activist Evelyn Kimber to seek his
replacement. According to the Amory faction,
including Janisch, Kimber, and Laura Simon,
the committee named psychologist and veteran
activist Theo Capaldo. Pacheco, however, contested
the choice, contending that Amory, having
retired, had no right to name the committee.
Board members reportedly backing Pacheco are
PETA president Ingrid Newkirk, Physicians
Committee for Responsible Medicine president
Neal Barnard, and activists Tina Brackenbush,
Merry Caplan, and Scott Van Valkenburg. On
the verge of the April 17 NEAVS annual meeting,
Fund secretary/treasurer Marian Probst told ANIMAL
PEOPLE, “over 300 proxy ballots for
Theo, which had arrived at the NEAVS office,
‘disappeared.’ The entire process was referred by
the minority side to the Office of the
Massachusetts Attorney General, Charities
Division,” who asked NEAVS corporate counsel
Howard Mayo to report on the matter.