'Sopranos' Star Vincent Pastore Wins 50 Big Ones for Lustgarten Foundation on NBC's 'The Celebrity Apprentice'

    BETHPAGE, N.Y., Jan. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Vincent Pastore, who portrayed
 Salvatore "Big P#ssy" Bonpensiero on the Emmy Award winning series, "The
 Sopranos," won $50,000 for The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic
 Research in last night's (01/24/08) episode of NBC's "The Celebrity
 Apprentice," with Donald "The Donald" Trump.
 
     Pastore won the prize in a challenge that pit two teams against each
 other to sell the most tickets to a hit Broadway show. He chose The
 Lustgarten Foundation as his charity to honor a close personal friend,
 Mitchell Berke, who succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2007.
 
     Said Kerri Kaplan, the Lustgarten Foundation's Executive Director,
 "Vincent has 'gone to the mattresses' in the fight against this dreaded
 killer. We are confident his work on 'The Celebrity Apprentice' will drive
 increased public awareness and giving, which are two of our most valuable
 weapons in the battle against pancreatic cancer."
 
     This installment of Donald Trump's series pits celebrity contestants
 against each other in business-related challenges in and around New York
 City.
 
     Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of all cancer deaths in
 the United States and the third leading cause of cancer deaths in
 individuals ages 40 to 60. Approximately 37,000 Americans are diagnosed
 with pancreatic cancer each year, and, each year, approximately the same
 number die from it. Often, pancreatic cancer is found too late for surgical
 intervention, and chemotherapy and radiation treatments have little effect.
 
     About The Lustgarten Foundation
 
     The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research has awarded
 grants totaling more than $18 million in support of pancreatic cancer
 research. www.lustgarten.org
 
 
 

SOURCE The Lustgarten Foundation