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Magowitz golf tourney benefits cancer research

By David Perry -- Furniture Today, October 17, 2006

Phoenix — Roger Magowitz knows the numbers all too well. And he knows they are simply unacceptable.

Five years ago his mother, Seena Magowitz, became part of the terrible numbers generated by pancreatic cancer. Each year about 33,000 people are diagnosed with that deadly type of cancer, and only about 1,280 of them survive into the next year.

"Pancreatic cancer is such a deadly disease that we just can't sit here and hope somebody else is working to defeat it," said Magowitz, president of Mattress Discounters in Virginia Beach, Va. "We need to take a stand against it."

He has been doing his part with his annual golf tournament, named for his late mother. This year's event, set for Dec. 2 at the Stonecreek Golf Club in Phoenix, once again has the backing of some of the bedding industry's biggest players, including Sealy, Simmons, Tempur-Pedic and International Bedding.

Other major sponsors include Mattress Discounters, Carls Furniture, Flexsteel, Protect-A-Bed and Wesley Allen.

"The Seena Magowitz team, through this tournament, has taken a stand against pancreatic cancer and we can make a difference," Magowitz said. "If we don't do it, who will?"

There are two ways that the golf tournament attacks pancreatic cancer, he said. First, half of the proceeds are going to support PanCAN, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. That money will go toward funding research into finding new ways to prevent and treat pancreatic cancer.

The other half of the proceeds will support the Pancreatic Cancer Research Team, a clinical research team based in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Ariz., that includes 24 of the best centers for the care of patients with pancreatic cancer in the United States. The researchers, a sort of cancer SWAT team, focus on getting laboratory discoveries applied to pancreatic cancer patients as quickly as possible.

The toll is rising rapidly.

"It's been five years since I lost my mother to this terrible disease," Magowitz said. "That means that every year since then that more than 30,000 people, just like you and me, have lost their spouse, mother, father, sibling or best friend — 150,000 of them in just five years. That is unacceptable."

This year's events at the Seena Magowitz Golf Classic are preceded by a pancreatic cancer symposium on Dec. 1 that begins at 8 a.m. That is followed by lunch and a tour of the TGen research facilities.

The golf tournament gets underway at 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 2 with a shotgun start. At 10:15 a.m. that morning, a new event, a 5K Walk, begins.

Those events are followed by lunch at 12:30 p.m. at the nearby Embassy Suites. A number of guest speakers are on tap for the luncheon, which is followed by a raffle.

Those attending last year's event are already looking forward to the 2006 edition.

"Last year's event was a tremendous success and a great deal of fun," said Dave McIlqu-ham, CEO of Sealy. "The generosity and support from the bedding and furniture industries never ceases to amaze me. Our industry is always willing to step up and make a difference. Pancreatic cancer research does not get the attention and focus that is necessary, and we congratulate and thank Roger for inspiring our community to make a bigger contribution in this fight, one that can be won."

Added Jayson Friedman of retailer Carls Furniture, Boca Raton, Fla.: "I am someone who has been personally affected by a loved one's passing from pancreatic cancer. The Seena Magowitz Golf Classic helps bring us that much closer to raising awareness and, most importantly, finding a cure for this devastating disease. I look forward to participating in this worthy event and contributing to making it a complete success."

Lawrence Hirson, an executive with Protect-A-Bed, called the tournament "an incredible event run by fantastic people."

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