Name: Roger Drue
Age: 52
Education: University of California, Santa Barbara; University of Chicago
Occupation: Health care executive
Hobbies: Mountaineering

The unit, located in a Long Beach medical center, was the first of its kind in Southern California and was partially funded by the March of Dimes.

"If the March of Dimes hadn't funded that unit at that time, clearly, he wouldn't have made it," said Drue, president and executive officer of Kapiolani Health.

But last winter, Drue watched his son graduate from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Over those 23 years, Drue got involved with the March of Dimes, volunteering to head last month's local WalkAmerica campaign. It's a way for him to repay some of what his family has benefited from, he said.

So is the reason he volunteers for the Aloha Council-Boy Scouts of America and other business organizations. Drue was also recently named the 1996 Aloha United Way campaign chairman.

"I just don't think people who work in executive positions should be hermits in any way," he said.

His three children have inherited Drue's affection for volunteering.

Last month, his son flew to Hawaii to participate in the Oahu WalkAmerica. He told his father that he now represents his company in Los Angeles as a team leader for the March of Dimes.

"I remember my roots," his son said.

Drue said: "I never suggested that to him. I think they know that it's terrifically important."

His work inside and outside the office hasn't left much time for traveling or backpacking in the last two-and-a-half years that Drue and his wife have been in Hawaii, but there have been great personal rewards, he said.

"The truth is we give in order to fill our own personal needs, not because the cause is there, regardless of how great it may be," Drue said. "We volunteer on a personal level."