Candace Bergen was saluted as “Mother of the Year” at the American Cancer Society’s spring luncheon at the St. Regis Roof. The supportive ladies-who-lunch included chairs Libby Pataki and Paula Zahn, Evelyn Lauder, Cynthia Maltese, Livia Sylva, and Jamee Gregory, among others. Daffodils filled the room as a symbol of hope for the American Cancer Society—where bouquets can be anonymously delivered to a cancer patient during “Daffodil Days.” Bergen, who grabbed headlines as a single mom dealing with her character’s breast cancer on TV’s Murphy Brown, said: “Murphy’s role motivated women to deal with breast cancer. After the episodes there was a 30 percent increase in women who got mammograms.”

Just before Libby Pataki presented Candace with her award, she noted, “Since September 11, I’ve seen a new kind of global warming: People in New York were silenced after the tragedy. After the silence, there was a noise—but it wasn’t the honk of a horn or an irate straphanger. It was a calling for strength and courage.”