HughE Dillon: Michael Milken at Prostate Cancer Fundraiser

Last night I attended the Ninth Annual Philadelphia Prostate Cancer Foundation Fundraiser dinner at the Union League. Nearly 400 people gathered to hear Wharton graduate and national chairman Michael Milken discuss the latest technology in the fight against the disease. I met Dr. Ron and Marlene Brooks, who were looking forward to checking out silent auction items that included a pony party for 20 kids, dinner and a caricature on the wall at the Palm, and a Chris Pronger-signed jersey. During the live auction, I was salivating over the chance to vacation for a weekend at Milken’s Malibu spread. The weekend cruise in the Mediterranean on a 175-foot yacht went for $150,000!!! An in-house dinner with Georges Perrier went for $7,500. A LeBron James meet-and-greet fetched $12,500. A baseball “experience” for four guests—traveling by private jet for a weekend with Milken, Tommy Lasorda, Joe Torre, Robin Ventura and Dennis Eckersley—went for $65,000.

Below: Neal Rodin, founding co-chair, Mike Milken, national chair, Kathleen Papa (widow of sports anchor Gary Papa, who died of prostate cancer and has a charity run/walk named after him that’s held every Father’s Day), Danny Govberg, 2011 event chair, and Clay Hamlin, founding co-Chair.
 

 
Below: Dr. Ron and Marlene Brooks. Before the gala, Milken and Dr. Howard Soule, of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, led a round-table discussion where they discussed the war against the disease in Philadelphia. Milken also talked about the importance of curtailing the brain-drain from the city to find ways to keep the next generation of researchers from leaving Philadelphia after being educated at our fine universities. His thought is that one of these scientists could have the cure to many cancer causes and Philadelphia is on the forefront of leading the discovery.
 

 
Below: Francine Boone, Kenneth Boone, committee chairman and trustee at Thomas Jefferson University, and Renee Bridges.
 

 
Below: Hope Cohen and Richard Green, with Inga and Sal D’Angelo. I mentioned to Sal that I heard Joe Torre (former NY Yankee manager and current MLB executive vice-president of baseball operations) was in their restaurant D’Angelo’s over the weekend. Sal tells me that his brother Tony and Joe are good friends. Joe was in town for the Phillies/St. Louis game and came in for dinner Friday night. Tony gave him a box of peppers from his garden to take back home.
 

 
Below: Jamie Barrett, vice-president of finance for LBCW, and Eleanor Barrett.
 

 
Below: Dr. Gordon and Shelley Schwartz, surgeon and founder of the Breast Health Institute, chat with art gallery owners Joel and Linda Appel. Also spotted at the event: Joseph Neubauer, Dr. Richard Pestell and Natalia Pestell, Corie Moskow, Hatty Roth, Nicole Cashman and Nigel Richards, David Lipson, Rebecca Jaslow, Joe Haulenbeek, and Robert Levy.
 

 
Below: Ed Covington, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority, and Renee Bridges.
 

 
Below: Jacqueline Brown and Randy Brown, executive director of the Philadelphia Music Alliance. Randy and his organization are responsible for the Philadelphia Walk of Fame along Broad Street.
 

 
Below: Jason Canon, vice-president of communications for JD Capital, and developer Brian O’Neill.
 

 
Below: Norristown native and former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda and former governor Ed Rendell did a Q&A for the guests gathered for the dinner portion of the evening. The two baseball fans talked Phillies, Game 4 of the Phillies/St. Louis series (Tommy says play Halladay), and the possibility of the Yankees and the Phillies in the World Series.
 

 
HughE Dillon covers parties, events and more for the Philly Post. You can follow him on Twitter @iPhillyChitChat and visit his daily online social diary at PhillyChitChat.com.