GIVERS
SHELLEY BELK and VAN EURE
F
Investing in hope by TODD COHEN
FOR THE ONE IN FOUR FAMILIES AFFECTED BY MENTAL ILLNESS, FINDING TREATMENT AND A cure can be difficult, frustrating, and often heart-breaking, particularly in a society that stigmatizes the disease.
The late Thad and Alice Eure encountered those challenges 40 years ago when their 17-year-old son, Thad Eure III, was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder. After scouring the U.S. looking for answers and finding few solutions, the couple started thinking about what they could do to foster research about mental illness. In 1984, they founded the Foundation of Hope, which has funded $4.3 million for research that has generated another $140 million in federal research grants. The Foundation always has been a family affair. Driving it in its early years were its founders: Thad Eure Jr., the Raleigh restaurateur best known for The Angus Barn and 42d Street Oyster Bar as well as the Darryl’s and Fat Daddy’s chains, died in 1988. Alice Eure, an interior designer who owned and operated Stewart Woodard Galleries, died in 1997. Their two daughters continue to be key players. Van Eure, 60, owner of Angus Barn, has chaired the foundation’s main fundraising event, the Thad and Alice Eure Walk for Hope, since it was launched photograph by JILL KNIGHT
SEPTEMBER 2015 | 117
