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Magowitz event raises megabucks to fight cancer

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

Phoenix — The home furnishings industry once again turned out in force here to support the fight against deadly pancreatic cancer.

The fourth annual Seena Magowitz Golf Classic, started by retail bedding veteran Roger Magowitz, hosted a record crowd that will push proceeds to over $225,000 for this year's event, Magowitz said.

Sponsors for the event included several top bedding producers and suppliers, including Sealy, Simmons, Tempur-Pedic, International Bedding, Therapedic, Leggett & Platt, Knickerbocker and Protect-A-Bed, all of whom sent representatives to the event.

Demonstrating the event's broadening reach into the home furnishings industry, furniture makers Wesley Allen, Flexsteel and Berkline also were sponsors, as were retailers Mattress Discounters, Carls Furniture and Mattress Firm.

This year's event expanded to three activities: a pancreatic cancer symposium with world-renowned cancer researchers, the golf tournament, and a new 5-kilometer walk. Total attendance was more than 400.

A festive, caring spirit characterized the two days of events, which played out under sunny skies.

Magowitz, president of sleep shop chain Mattress Discounters, based in Virginia Beach, Va., hosted the proceedings, along with Jayson Friedman of Carls Furniture, Coconut Creek, Fla., and Ray Bojanowksi, former president of Metropolitan Mattress of Chandler, Ariz.

Friedman, whose father, Fred, died of pancreatic cancer last year, addressed the luncheon that traditionally wraps up the event.

"I come here with a passion to do whatever I can to help find a cure for pancreatic cancer," he said. The symposium, which Friedman and his mother, Noreen, attended the day before, provided an "inspiring" look at pancreatic cancer research programs, he said.

Magowitz, whose mother, Seena, died of pancreatic cancer five years ago, spoke of the need for individual action.

"My only words are, If not me, who?" he said. "It's not just the 'who' at the podium; it's the 'who' sitting in the audience, and the 'who' who leaves this event and tells people what has happened here."

What has happened is that a crusade that began with Magowitz' sudden, shocking loss — pancreatic cancer is a cruel, swift killer that took his mother's life just five months after her diagnosis — has been embraced by key executives throughout the bedding industry.

This year's event attracted such bedding heavyweights as Al Boulden of Sealy, Leon Ellman of International Bedding, Peter Schmidt of Tempur-Pedic, Marc Werner of United Sleep, Clive Goldin and Lawrence Hirson of Protect-A-Bed, Richard Polevoy of Knickerbocker and Larry McKay, formerly of Comfort Solutions.

The strong industry support helped push proceeds toward the quarter-million dollar level for the first time. Magowitz said the proceeds "should easily pass $225,000" — a $50,000 increase over last year, quite an achievement in a difficult year for the industry.

"A lot of our sponsors doubled what they gave last year," he said. "And they did that without me asking them to do so. That was doubly nice. I also believe the good feelings and the good will we have generated contributed to our larger turnout this year. Our reach is spreading. We know where we want to go with this event. It has taken on a life of its own."

Sponsors hope the event will help bring life to pancreatic cancer patients, who battle long odds. The disease has a 96% mortality rate. About 32,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with the disease this year, and 31,800 will be killed by it.

"It's a bad killer and we haven't made much progress against it," said Dr. Daniel Von Hoff, head of the pancreatic cancer research program at The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), a world-class gene research center in Phoenix.

The symposium included a tour of the biomedical research institute, where investigators are studying the structure of human genes to look for clues to fighting pancreatic cancer and a variety of other diseases.

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