Dear Abby's Family Funds Research

The family of the woman who wrote the "Dear Abby" advice column has teamed up with an anonymous donor to contribute $10 million to the Mayo Clinic for research into Alzheimer's disease.

Pauline Phillips, better known as Abigail Van Buren, formally retired last year after she was found to have Alzheimer's, though she had not been actively writing the column for several years. She had written "Dear Abby" since 1956.

The gift announced Wednesday is the largest donation to combat the disease ever given to Mayo, which will rename its research center the Mayo Clinic Abigail Van Buren Alzheimer's Disease Research Clinic.

Phillips, 85, lives in Minnetonka with her husband, Morton.

Her twin sister, Esther "Eppie" Lederer, also doled out advice to thousands of readers under the name Ann Landers. Lederer died last year.

"This is a very important gift," said Dr. Ronald Petersen, who heads the Alzheimer's research center at Mayo. "We're moving toward prediction and prevention for this disease, and the research this finances can take us pretty far down that road."

The gift will be used to recruit and evaluate 1,200 residents in their 70s and 80s in Olmsted County of southeastern Minnesota for a five-year study to help researchers better determine who is at risk for the disease and how quickly it progresses.

The money includes $5 million from Phillips' son and daughter-in-law, Edward and Leslye Phillips of Minneapolis, and the Jay and Rose Phillips Foundation, established by Pauline Phillips' in-laws.

Another $5 million was given by an anonymous donor from the Washington, D.C., area who is not related to the Phillips family, Mayo officials said.

Alzheimer's disease, which afflicts more than 4 million Americans, is a progressive degenerative disease that results in impaired memory, judgment and behavior. There is no cure, although some drugs appear to slow progress of the disease in some patients.