Stand Up To Cancer Telethon Co-Founder Succumbs to Breast Cancer

Noreen Fraser, co-founder and producer of the annual "Stand Up To Cancer" telethon that rasies money for cancer research with the help of celebrities, has died of stage 4 breast cancer at the age of 63. Fraser, who also produced TV shows including "Entertainment Tonight," "The Richard Simmons Show" and ABC's "Home Show," had lived with the disease for 16 years, Variety reports.

After she was diagnosed with breast cancer, Fraser, also a wife and mother, devoted a lot of her time to raising money for cancer research. In 2006, she founded the Noreen Fraser Foundation to fund translational research into women's cancers. Through the foundation, Fraser recruited celebrities Jack Blakc, Zach Gilifianakis and others to record humoros videos that encouraged men to remind the women in their lives about scheduling mammograms and Pap smears. In 2016, Fraser turned over the foundation's assets to UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, creating the Noreen Fraser Fund for Women's Cancer Research, according to the Variety report.