Left to right: Gerald Fischer, president and CEO, University of Minnesota Foundation; David Boehnen, executive vice president, SuperValu, Inc.; Robert Bruininks, president, University of Minnesota; Tucker LeBien, director, Leukemia Research Fund, and associate director of basic research for the Masonic Cancer Center; and Russ Huffer, chairman and CEO of Apogee Enterprises, Inc.

(March 17, 2008) University of Minnesota leaders including President Robert Bruininks accepted a $365,000 donation for leukemia research March 11 from the Danny Thompson Memorial Golf Tournament. Representatives from the University and the golf tournament met at a luncheon in the University's McNamara Alumni Center to discuss the donation and ways to increase corporate sponsorship for the annual tournament in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Since 1977, the tournament has contributed over $3 million to the Leukemia Research Fund, which supports faculty researchers at the University of Minnesota. The researchers use the funding as seed money for projects with the potential for securing additional funding from the federal government.

Additional participants in the luncheon included Gerald Fischer, president and CEO, University of Minnesota Foundation; David Boehnen, executive vice president, SuperValu, Inc.; Tucker LeBien, director, Leukemia Research Fund, and associate director of basic research for the Masonic Cancer Center; Russell Huffer, chairman and CEO of Apogee Enterprises, Inc., and chairman of the Leukemia Research Fund; and Joseph Otting, vice chairman, U.S. Bancorp and board member of the Danny Thompson Memorial Golf Tournament.