Seattle-The Pacific Northwest Research Institute (PNRI, now PNDRI) announced today that it is the designated recipient of more than $2 million from the estate of William R. Klaische. The unrestricted Klaische gift will seed an endowment fund being established to support the advancement of PNRI's diabetes research.

Long-time Seattle residents, William Klaische and his wife Elizabeth were early supporters of PNRI's biomedical science. They were also family friends of the Institute's founder, Dr. William B. Hutchinson. In recent years, annual Klaische gifts have helped PNRI recruit diabetes researchers, equip laboratories, and undertake pioneering diagnostic and therapeutic studies in type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

"Growing the quality and scope of diabetes research is our highest priority," says Dr. Paul Robertson, President and Scientific Director of PNRI. "Our vision is to eradicate diabetes. We are working to build a comprehensive research center where the fundamental problems in the diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and cure of diabetes can be solved. The extraordinary generosity of William Klaische will help create long-term support for this effort."

Klaische focused his professional career on sales and management, most of it with the Hobart Manufacturing Company. He died in July of 2004, and his estate is now being distributed. The gift to PNRI is expected to be complete by next year.

"We are very grateful to William Klaische," says Sheryl Steifel, PNRI Director of Development, "both for the size of his gift and its far-sightedness." The dramatic rise in the incidence of diabetes, as well as the alarming growth in type 2 diabetes especially among the young, gives special urgency to the mission of PNRI. "The Klaische bequest will allow us to sustain and expand our laboratories and to make the discoveries that will result in improved diabetes health for individuals, families, and communities. Our capacity to achieve this mission is immeasurably enhanced by the generous support of this extraordinary donor."