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Agnes Varis is President and founder of Agvar Chemicals Inc. and Aegis Pharmaceuticals. Born in...

Agnes Varis is President and founder of Agvar Chemicals Inc. and Aegis Pharmaceuticals. Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Varis was the only child of eight to attend college. She earned her degree in Chemistry and English from Brooklyn College. She attended New York University's Stern School of Business. In 1970, she started Agvar Chemicals and co-founded Marsam Pharmaceuticals in 1985. She became the founder and President of Aegis Pharmaceuticals in 1992. Also known as “Saint” Agnes Varis, in 2004 Dr. Varis became involved with The Jazz Foundation of America. Her work with the Jazz Foundation includes providing funding and creating employment opportunities for America's elderly jazz and blues musicians. Through her work in response to Hurricane Katrina, in 2006 the Jazz Foundation of America established the Agnes Varis / Musicians in the Schools Program, first reaching out to displaced New Orleans musicians and subsequently employing more than 1000 musicians in eight states, including some 120 elderly jazz and blues musicians performing free concerts in New York City public schools, hospitals and nursing homes. In 2009 Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana Mitch Landrieu presented Agnes