The University of Pittsburgh is creating the Live Like Lou Center for ALS Research to study a cure for the degenerative nerve disease named for baseball player Lou Gehrig.
The center is named after a charity founded by Neil and Suzanne Alexander, a Pittsburgh couple who started the fund at The Pittsburgh Foundation after Neil Alexander was diagnosed with the disease three years ago.
Pitt says the couple have pledged to raise $2.5 million, half of the centers startup cost.
Alexander, who works with an investment firm and was diagnosed at age 46, named his charity after Gehrig because he believed the ballplayer showed dignity and courage in the face of the disease.
Pitt Chancellor Patrick Gallagher says the school is "honored to be chosen as partners in this effort by the Alexander family."
