Ohio State University (USU) has received a $1 million pledge to create an endowed chair in head and neck cancer research at its Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC–James).
Ron Alford of Westerville, OH, along with his sister Barb Cantlin and her husband Mike of Newark, OH, have pledged the additional funding over the next four years. Their $1 million pledge adds to the original $500,000 donation made by Ron and Barb's father, John Alford, to create the first research endowment at the center shortly after the freestanding cancer hospital opened in July 1990.
After his wife died of stomach cancer in 1987, John Alford chose to honor her memory by creating the Mary E. Alford Cancer Research Endowment Fund for cancer research. When John Alford died of esophageal cancer in 1996, his children donated an additional $500,000 to create the Mary E. and John W. Alford Cancer Research Endowment Fund.
With the latest gift pledge, once the fund reaches $2 million it will be renamed the Mary E. and John W. Alford Research Chair in Head and Neck Cancer.
