Gilda Radner: Rochester Chapter Of Club Won’t Change Its Name

The Rochester chapter of Gilda’s Club, the support group created in honor of late comedienne Gilda Rader, is refusing to change its name.

According to 13 WHAM, Executive Director Bob Russell said he will fight any changes he is forced to make to the organization’s name.

“It’s who we are, it’s who people are accustomed to us being. Right now, when we’ve got control, we’re Gilda’s Club and that’s what we’re going to stay,” he explained.

The Rochester Chapter of the women’s support group is one of the first local chapters to offer its services to those in need. Russell said the club first opened its doors in the area back in 2000. The organization itself was started by Gene Wilder in honor of his late wife Gilda Radner.

According to Health on TODAY, a strong backlash is building against the Madison, Wisconsin chapter of Gilda’s Club after executive director Lannia Syren Stenz revealed the organization would change its name to Cancer Support Community Southwest Wisconsin.

“Shame on you,” one individual wrote on the chapter’s Facebook page. “By changing the name of Gilda’s Club to a sterile, no-name entity, you’ve made it clear that, in your eyes, Gilda’s legacy is not worth protecting. Really? Without Gilda’s celebrity and attention to the reality of cancer affecting even the brightest and youngest stars out there, Gilda’s Club wouldn’t exist.”

Stenz reasoning is certainly a little peculiar. Although such organizations as The Will Rogers Institute haven’t changed their names based on the popularity of their respective namesakes, Stenz feels those who aren’t familiar with Gilda may decide to pass them by.

“One of the realizations we had this year is that our college students were born after Gilda Radner passed, as we are seeing younger and younger adults who are dealing with a cancer diagnosis,” Stenz explained. “We want to make sure that what we are is clear to them and that there’s not a lot of confusion that would cause people not to come in our doors.”

Do you agree with the Rochester Chapter of Gilda’s Club? Do you think the name change is an insult to the late Gilda Radner?