Swimmers to Honor John Needham

Josh Glantz, Joel Talish and Joe Kaufman before starting the 10k swim in 2018. Saturday, July 29, 2023, marks 31 years that thousands of swimmers and volunteers will dive in to Long Island Sound off the shores of the Larchmont Yacht Club to make waves to fight cancer at the 31st annual Swim Across America - Long Island Sound (Westchester) open water swim. The Long Island open water swim is Swim Across America’s largest swim in the country with close to 1,000 participants – and this year will surpass raising $25 million for crucial cancer research for the swim’s local beneficiaries Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Columbia University Medical Center, Cancer Support Team and Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine. There are several different swim lengths available at the event and available for all ages including 2K, 5K, and 10K swims (10K is across Long Island Sound), or participants can fundraise and participate virtually via SAA My Way. Swimmers, land and water volunteers interested in participating can register here. 

One of the many teams making a big splash and raising funds for cancer research is Team John, swimming in honor of beloved swimmer John Needham, who sadly lost his battle with cancer on June 1, 2023, just shy of his 70th birthday.

“John was loved by many in the broader Westchester swimming community,” said team co-captain Josh Glantz. “John participated in Swim Across America every year to raise money for cancer research. His friends from the pool now miss his laid-back nature, incredible and subtle sense of humor and supreme care for everyone in his swimming community.”

John Needham was also Josh Glantz’s Scarsdale neighbor. This year, John’s son Dan will be swimming the 10k alongside Josh, Joe Kaufman and Joel Talish, all with Team John, at the July 29 open water swim - swimming across Long Island Sound together in memory of their beloved father and friend. Joe and Joel are also Scarsdale residents.

“John will always be remembered as a beloved husband to Leanne and devoted father to his two children, Daniel and Caitlin, of whom he was always so proud and called his greatest joy, and his sister Sarah Needham,” said Joseph Kaufman, co-captain of Team John. “His teammates and swimming family at Westchester Masters Swim Association and the Scarsdale Town Pool keep his memory alive each time we dive into the water.“

Growing up, John was an All-American swimmer at Hamilton College in upstate New York. After attending Boston University Law School he found his true calling and joined the Legal Aid Society in Manhattan and, ultimately, in the Bronx, working tirelessly to defend the underprivileged and marginalized.

The Swim Across America - Long Island Sound event typically raises more than a million dollars each year. This year, its 31st year, the event is expected to break the $25 million mark for funds raised throughout the years! This incredible feat is due to the dedication of the many swimmers and volunteers. Josh Glantz is one of those who has been with the swim since its inception. Every year, his team changes its name to reflect who they are swimming for - whether it is someone courageously battling cancer, or someone dear they have recently lost, such as John Needham.Eldad Blaustein Josh Glantz and John Needham in 2018

Team John is currently the leading team raising close to $60,000 to date - and growing. The 18 members of the team are seasoned swimmers and novices who all swim to make a difference in fighting cancer. Make your contribution to Team John here.

Swim Across America is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1987 with its first open water event in Long Island Sound in Connecticut. Since that time, the organization has raised more than $100 million to fight cancer. In its 36 years, more than 100,000 swimmers and 150 Olympians have swum the circumference of the earth three times, uniting a movement to fight cancer that has created a groundswell of support spanning all generations. Today, more than 24 communities hold open water swims and charity pool swims each year, from Nantucket to under the Golden Gate Bridge, which support innovative cancer research, detection and patient programs.

Swim Across America’s funding of clinical trials for patients helped contribute to four FDA approved life-saving immunotherapy cancer treatments: Yervoy, Opdivo, Tecentriq and Keytruda. In June of last year, a clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering was published in The New England Journal of Medicine that showed a 100 percent success rate in treating patients in a phase 2 clinical trial for advanced rectal cancer with dostarlimab, an immunotherapy treatment produced by GlaxoSmithKline. The clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering was funded by early-stage grant funding from Swim Across America - Long Island Sound. More than 60 scientific grants are funded each year and there are now ten dedicated Swim Across America Labs at major institutions including: Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, John Hopkins Medicine Baltimore, Rush University Medical Center Chicago, Baylor Scott & White Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York, Infusion Center at Nantucket Cottage Hospital, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland and San Francisco, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, The Swim Across America Pediatric Research Lab at Columbia University Medical Center New York, and at Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine.