Seena Magowitz tourney raises at least $400,000
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, December 21, 2009
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The seventh edition of the Seena Magowitz Golf Classic here raised at least $400,000 for the fight against pancreatic cancer, officials said.
The total is expected to be much higher when final figures are tallied, said Roger Magowitz, co-founder of the event, which honors the memory of his mother, Seena, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2001.
More than 300 mattress and home furnishings executives were on hand for this year's event, held at the Westin Kierland resort. The event featured a new activity, Casino Night, which was hosted by Tempur-Pedic, the memory foam bedding producer that is a major sponsor of the Magowitz event.
Tempur-Pedic also supported the event with the sale of its teddy bears, proceeds of which are going to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Pam Acosta Marquardt, founder of the network, said that Tempur-Pedic was the first national company to embrace the cause.
“We knew this would be a wild success, and it was,” said Roger Magowitz, president of Virginia Beach, Va.-based Mattress Discounters.
Rick Anderson, president of Tempur-Pedic North America, encouraged the industry to think creatively about the ways it can aid in the fight against pancreatic cancer. “We came up with a creative idea and took it to the next level,” he said.
Anderson also praised the retailers who backed the Tempur-Pedic Teddy Bear campaign. “The retailers really supported this,” he said. “Many of them contributed some of their profits.”
Also aiding the fight against pancreatic cancer were Protect-A-Bed, a bedding protection company, and Mattress Firm of Houston, one of the nation's largest bedding retailers. They partnered on a fundraising campaign.
To date the Seena Magowitz Golf Classic has raised more than $1 million, making it one of the largest pancreatic cancer fundraising events in the country.
The mattress industry has embraced the fight against pancreatic cancer, spearheaded by industry veterans Magowitz and Ray Bojanowski, who launched the golf tourney in 2003.
This year's event attracted an A-list of bedding heavyweights, including Sealy CEO Larry Rogers, Simmons President Steve Fendrich, Serta President Bob Sherman, Tempur-Pedic's Anderson, International Bedding President Tony Smith, Kingsdown North American Sales President Chris Henning, Restonic President Ron Passaglia and Natura President Ralph Rossdeutscher, among many others.
Gary Fazio and Steve Stagner, both of Mattress Firm in Houston, led a strong retail delegation, while Leggett & Platt executive Karl Glassman and Protect-A-Bed principals James Bell and Clive Goldin were among the major suppliers on hand.
The awards luncheon, one of the highlights of the weekend, attracted about 300 guests. Jai Pausch, the widow of “The Last Lecture” author Randy Pausch, was the honorary chairman of the event.
She delivered an emotional address, thanking the home furnishings executives for their support and talking about her late husband's fight against pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest types of cancer. The five-year survival rate for that disease is only 5%, yet it receives significantly less research funding than many other types of cancer, officials said.
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