Glen Campbell, who has Alzheimer's, performed at the gala.

How does one manage to sign up Eric and Liz Lefkofsky, Christopher and Anne Reyes, M.K. and J.B. Pritzker, Tom and CeCe Ricketts, Anne and Ken Griffin and a dozen other blue chip names to give big money to a first-ever fundraiser?

It helps if your last name is Crown.

Nancy and A. Steven Crown — he is a son of Lester and Renee — pulled together a group of Chicago A-listers for Monday night’s Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation gala, held at the Art Institute of Chicago. The fundraiser was the first in Chicago for the foundation, launched in 1998 by Estee Lauder’s sons, Ronald and Leonard. To date, the foundation has raised $54 million to find a drug to treat and perhaps cure Alzheimer’s disease.

“This is a wonderful cause to support,” said Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts, a gala co-chair along with his wife. Mr. and Ms. Ricketts, like many at the gala, are friends with Nancy and Steven Crown. “She has a different Rolodex than other people,” Mr. Ricketts said of Ms. Crown.

About 300 people attended the gala to support Alzheimer’s drug research and to hear country legend Glen Campbell, the evening’s featured performer. Mr. Campbell, 76, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s last year; the disease caused him to cancel a tour this past spring.

The evening began with cocktails for about 150 (some boldface names, among them the Griffins and Jeanne and John Rowe, did not attend the cocktail party) at the Art Institute’s Terzo Piano restaurant. Dinner, quiet by gala standards, took place downstairs in the Modern Wing.

“I am in love with Chicago and I am in love with the Crowns,” said Leonard Lauder, chairman emeritus of Estee Lauder Cos. and co-chairman of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, during his dinner remarks. He and his late wife, Evelyn, spent time in Chicago when they were young; that’s when they met Lester and Renee Crown, sparking a multigenerational family friendship.

Mr. Lauder’s goal is to find a cure or treatment for Alzheimer’s in his lifetime. “It is my dream to stand in front of you and say this awful disease has been cured,” he said.

The foundation’s chief science officer, Dr. Howard Fillit, described promising developments, including an early-detection test for Alzheimer’s. ADDF helped fund these developments: “Leonard is already changing the world,” Dr. Fillit said.

Mr. Campbell, on film and in person, was the centerpiece of the evening. Filmmakers James Keach (he is married to actress Jane Seymour, the evening’s emcee) and Trevor Albert showed a clip from a documentary they are making about Mr. Campbell’s farewell tour.

Mr. Campbell took the stage with a band – which included his son Shannon and daughter Ashley – to perform four numbers. The first, “Gentle on My Mind,” was startlingly beautiful and flawlessly executed.

Mr. Campbell started the second, “Wichita Lineman,” in the wrong key; he and the band meandered through the song’s complicated structure until Ashley put her hand on her father’s arm. “Dad, let’s try ‘Southern Nights,’ ” she said gently.

Mr. Campbell’s performance concluded with “A Better Place,” a recent composition. He and the evening ended with the song’s chorus: “One thing I know, the world’s been good to me. A better place awaits, you’ll see.”

The gala raised $1.5 million, all of which will be devoted to Alzheimer’s drug research. (Read Crain's story about the Lauders and their foundation here.)