Former Executive Starts Cancer Charity

Three years after his mother died of ovarian cancer in 2001, Don Listwin, a former Cisco Systems executive, started a charity to beat the disease by bolstering ways to detect cancer before it spreads, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Listwin, 47, is one of a growing number of businessmen who give away their money before they reach old age, often to health causes stemming from personal experience.

Other examples include former financier Michael Milken, who established the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and Scott Johnson, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur who started a charity to fight multiple sclerosis.

Mr. Listwin runs his Canary Foundation much like a technology start-up company, setting short-term goals and tapping researchers to tackle them. It operates with less red tape than many older foundations, the newspaper says.

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