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U-M CCC - Progress Newsletter Winter 2004 Online

Development

Top: Heather Urich (center) surrounded by Urich Fund supporters
(left to right) Jermaine Jackson, Joe Montagna, Reggie Smith (kneeling), Chris O"Donnell, Jon O"Hurley, Urich, Lee Majors, Bruce Jenner, Emeril Lagasse, Wayne Gretzky, and D.B. Sweeney

Third Annual Robert Urich Memorial Golf Classic benefits U-M Saracoma Program

Record-setting proceeds will aid researchers, patients and families

Despite the looming threat of Southern California's late October fires, a record crowd joined event co-chairmen chef Emeril Lagasse; Angelo Mozilo, Chairman, CEO and President of Countrywide Financial Corporation; and Ed Wilson, President of NBC Enterprises and Syndication at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks California on October 26 and 27, 2003 for a gala weekend to benefit The Robert Urich Fund for Sarcoma Research at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The weekend's events honored the memory of actor Robert Urich, who succumbed to Synovial sarcoma in April, 2002. Urich was treated at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center. He and his wife Heather created The Urich Fund to support sarcoma research and treatment programs at the Cancer Center.

Heather Urich continues to be involved with the U-M Cancer Center through the fund. "There's a vital purpose to the work we”re doing with The Urich Fund," she says. "We started it during Robert's treatment, knowing then that research was so important, and that for rare cancers like sarcoma, much of that work relies on private funding. I have no doubt that Robert would be both tremendously proud of the progress we”ve made, and impatient to do more!"

Wildfires nearby turned the usually bright skies over the Sherwood Country Club an ominous grey, but failed to dampen the enthusiasm for the event.

The October event proved that, despite the miles separating Ann Arbor from Thousand Oaks, Urich's memory inspired participants to come together to make a difference in the fight against cancer. The golf tournament was "kicked up a notch" by Lagasse's Chefs on the Course for the Cure, a series of tasting stations set up at different holes, providing samplings from some of the country”s top chefs. Lagasse also partnered with Sherwood Country Club chef Alberto Vazquez to create the culinary artistry for the previous evening's dinner gala, which featured both live and silent auctions.

Celebrities in the attendance included Wayne Gretzky, Chris O'Donnell, Joe Montagna, Bruce Jenner, Reggie Smith and D.B. Sweeney. "Although it's tough to see the words "Robert Urich" and "Memorial” together, and to see so many of my husband's golfing buddies on the course without him, I was so proud of the effort and the result," said Heather Urich. "We all felt Robert's presence throughout the weekend, urging us to keep going."

The event exceeded last year”s fundraising tally, and next year's event is already being planned. To learn more, contact Janet Roth at (734) 763-6738 or janroth@umich.edu.

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