Governor Appoints Wife’s Business Partner, Die at 75 Advocate as Senior Advisor to Panel to Reopen Connecticut.

Governor Ned Lamont announced Monday that he will look to people gathered by private non-profit organization AdvanceCT to guide the Greenwich Democrat in lifting restrictions on the state’s economy and other activities in response to the unique COVID-19 global pandemic. Indra Nooyi, co-chair of AdvanceCT, and Albert Ko, MD, of the Yale School of Public Health, will serve as co-chairs of the group.

Among the “senior advisors” guiding the first-term governor will be Ezekiel Emanuel, “who serves as Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania,” according to Monday’s announcement. Not included in the release from Lamont’s office were Emanuel’s credentials as “a Venture Partner at Oak HC/FT, [who] joined the firm in 2016 and focuses on growth equity and early-stage venture opportunities in Healthcare,” according to the firm’s website. Oak HC/FT is the venture capital firm co-founded by Ann Huntress Lamont, wife of and advisor to Ned Lamont.

According to Emanuel’s profile on the Oak HC/FT website, his spirit animal is Tigger of Winnie the Pooh fame.

The ethicist Emanuel wrote a controversial 2014 article making the case for death at the age of 75. The piece continues to cause discomfort and may prompt some to question if Emanuel is suited to help lead us out a public health crisis that continues to take a fearsome toll on older people.