Marianna Allgauer - The Harry Allgauer Foundation

Citation: Cloughesy TF, Yoshimoto K, Nghiemphu P, Brown K, Dang J, et al. (2008) Antitumor Activity of Rapamycin in a Phase I Trial for Patients with Recurrent PTEN-Deficient Glioblastoma. PLoS Med 5(1): e8. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050008

Academic Editor: Robert J. Weil, Brain Tumor Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, United States of America

Received: March 22, 2007; Accepted: November 15, 2007; Published: January 22, 2008

Copyright: © 2008 Cloughesy et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: Funding for this investigator-initiated clinical trial was provided by the Doris Duke Foundation and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (CLS), Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure (IKM), the Goldhirsh Foundation (CLS), the National Cancer Institute (CA108633 to PSM), the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS050151 to PSM), UCLA GCRC (M01-RR0865), and the Brain Tumor Funders' Collaborative. Further funding was provided by the Harry Allgauer Foundation through the Doris R. Ullmann Fund for Brain Tumor Research Technologies, the Henry E. Singleton Brain Cancer Program at UCLA, the Ziering Family Foundation in memory of Sigi Ziering, the Art of the Brain, the Roven Family Fund in memory of Dawn Steel, and the Joseph Drown Foundation in memory of Mark Schackman.The funders played no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Abbreviations: CGH, comparative genomic hybridization; GBM, glioblastoma; IHC, immunohistochemistry; KPS, Karnofsky performance score; mTOR, mammalian target of rapamycin; PTEN, phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on Chromosome 10; S1, surgery 1; S2, surgery 2; TTP, time to progression

Harry Allgauer's gruff exterior and imposing personality belied his generosity and soft spot for people in need.

When the local businessman came into millions of dollars after the deaths of an aunt and uncle, he vowed to do good with the money.

Through his Harry Allgauer Foundation, formed in 1998, he became a major contributor to several charities and causes, including the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation and Senior Community Centers in San Diego.

Mr. Allgauer died of pancreatic cancer Dec. 3 at Scripps Mercy Hospital. He was 79.

As a nephew of Josef and Else Eberle, Mr. Allgauer was an heir to the German couple's estate, which included the German newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung.  But gaining millions from the paper's sale did not change him, said longtime friend and accountant Jeff Strong.

“It allowed him to do things for the community, but it didn't really change him,” Strong said. “He was always pretty direct and straightforward. He didn't pull any punches, and he never minced words.”

Mr. Allgauer could be overly direct, said his wife, Marianna Allgauer of La Jolla.

“Some people found it an endearing quality because few people had the intellectual honesty and rare gift of always saying exactly what was on his mind,” she said. “He didn't play games; you always knew where you stood with him.”

Mr. Allgauer was quiet about his philanthropy, his wife said.

“He never flaunted what he did for others,” she said. “He was very kind; I don't think a lot of people knew that side of him.”

Paul Downey, president and CEO of Senior Community Centers, said Mr. Allgauer kept a low profile.

“Harry was one of our leading donors, especially in the area of nutrition,” Downey said. “That was Harry's passion – feeding people. He had a heart of gold beneath a big, gruff exterior. He was moved by the plight of people.”

Friends said Mr. Allgauer's mother had meals delivered to her by a senior center before she died in 1996, and that he never forgot the kindness and the difference it made to her.

“He vowed he would help those people who didn't have the resources,” Downey said. “Here was a guy who was under the radar, but he made a tremendous impact in the community.”

Harry Gustav Allgauer was born Aug. 16, 1929, in Chicago to Gustav and Kathe Allgauer. He grew up in Chicago, where his family owned three restaurants, including Allgauer's Fireside Restaurant, which was torched in 1958 after the senior Allgauer talked to a Senate committee about mob-dominated labor unions.

Mr. Allgauer graduated from Purdue University with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1952. He moved to Southern California and worked for Hughes Aircraft and later for North American Aviation, which eventually became part of Boeing. In the late 1970s, he started his own business, S and A Technical Sales, and moved from Orange County to San Diego.

He was an avid reader and enjoyed fine dining, traveling and watching sports. He was a fan of Purdue football, the Chargers and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Besides donating to Senior Community Centers and cancer research, Mr. Allgauer contributed to Purdue University, YMCA of San Diego, Planned Parenthood, Covenant House of California, the Zoological Society of San Diego and several other charities.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his brother, Al Allgauer of Fallbrook; two nieces; a nephew; and a cousin.