ALS activist celebrates 95
Bruce Fessier • The Desert Sun • September 13, 2008


Larry Barnett, former president of Music Corporation of America and General Artists Corporation, will celebrate his 95th birthday today with his family in Beverly Hills.

But the national ALS Association is celebrating the Rancho Mirage resident and major McCallum Theatre supporter as the grandfather of its network of 42 chapters.
ALS Association President and CEO Gary A. Leo, who will present Barnett with a memento at the family party, called him “a major catalyst” in turning his nonprofit corporation into an internationally respected amyotrophic lateral sclerosis organization.

He has underwritten many grants for scientists researching what is known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, including one that helped isolate the gene that causes some forms of ALS.

“It is because of Larry that the ALS Association was able to develop a global, cutting-edge research program that will one day discover a cure for Lou Gehrig's Disease,” Leo said, “and it is because of Larry that thousands of families across this nation have turned to and received help from our caring organization.”

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