Arnold and Sharon Hershbain

: Sharon Hershbain, Arnold Hershbain

: Arnold Hershbain

: Sharon Hershbain, Vince McBeth, Arnold Hershbain

: Ray Bojanowski and Arnold Hershbain

ARNOLD & SHARON HERSHBAIN

Longtime SMF Supporters & Ambassadors

Written By Julia Brabant
April 2020

PureCare. As an established name in the bedding industry, Arnold Hershbain had an existing link to the pancreatic cancer community – but when his dearest friend, Sam Chase, received his own diagnosis, Arnold’s efforts to eradicate the disease took a personal turn.

“Sam was a true pioneer in the bedding and mattress pad industries – he was one of the first to focus on the humanistic, health and wellness side of things. He really changed the industry overnight,” Arnold said of his friend and former business partner, who lost his pancreatic cancer battle in 2012.

These days, Arnold remains at the helm of PureCare, the health-conscious mattress and bedding protection company he launched alongside Sam (originally under the name Fabrictech), and he’s using the company’s platform to further the fight against the disease that claimed Sam’s life.

“As Sam’s illness progressed, he began talking about Roger Magowitz and the Seena Magowitz Foundation more and more,” Arnold said, noting that he went on to eulogize Sam at the pancreatic cancer research foundation’s annual Seena Magowitz Foundation Golf Classic, its largest yearly fundraiser. After getting an up-close look at the organization and its fundraising efforts for the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), which develops early diagnostic procedures and innovative treatments for pancreatic cancer patients, Arnold made it his own business to get behind the cause. Now, 15 years later, he’s proved himself to be one of the pancreatic cancer community’s most committed advocates and supporters.

In addition to making numerous financial contributions through the years, Arnold and his wife, Sharon, became regular fixtures at annual Seena Magowitz Foundation fundraising events, missing only one in 15 years due to health issues. Arnold also played a role in bringing one of the event’s more memorable auction items to the table after coming across one of Sam’s many collections, this one of about 350 antique mattress ads, several years after his passing. Knowing the event drew a large bedding industry audience, he put the collection up for auction, and it ultimately raised more than $55,000 for pancreatic cancer research.

Several years after Arnold started lending his support to the foundation, another close friend of his, Jay Kinder, also wound up receiving a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. At Arnold’s urging, the New Jersey resident flew to Arizona to meet with Dr. Daniel Von Hoff and Dr. Erkut Borazanci of HonorHealth Research Institute, both of whom are oncologists and clinical investigators who perform research using Seena Magowitz Foundation funds.

While Jay needed to receive care back on the East Coast, where he had his family’s support, his doctors there based his treatments on recommendations made by the team back in HonorHealth Research Institute in Arizona.

“His original prognosis was about three months,” Arnold said of his friend. “The research done with the help of the Seena Magowitz Foundation helped Jake survive another two-and-a-half years – long past his initial survival date.”

Seeing results firsthand only furthered Arnold’s commitment to funding and supporting pancreatic cancer research in the years that followed.

“It’s a pleasure and honor to be a part of Roger’s work,” he said, noting that he and his wife plan to continue to attend foundation events and otherwise advocate for the cause whenever possible.

“You get so much more out of it than you could ever could ever possibly give to it.”