Local News in Brief : Cancer Fund Drive Begins

Industrialist Armand Hammer has launched a campaign to raise a billion dollars to find a cure for cancer in the next 10 years.

Hammer, chairman and chief executive of Westwood-based Occidental Petroleum, said Wednesday that he aims to raise $500 million dollars for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in private donations, which would be matched by federal funds.

“If we can get every family in the United States to donate something and the big corporations to raise more, the federal government, we hope, will match us,” said Hammer, who is chairman of the President’s Cancer Panel.

“I put it before the President (last week) and he didn’t say no.”