Ousted HP chairwoman to begin chemotherapy

updated 4:08 p.m. ET Oct. 4, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO - Ousted Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, who survived breast cancer and melanoma, needs to begin chemotherapy treatments for advanced ovarian cancer, according to a person close to Dunn.

Dunn, 53, is scheduled to start her treatments Friday at the University of California at San Francisco for the recurrent cancer, the person said late Tuesday. The person asked to remain anonymous because a formal announcement wasn’t planned.

Dunn, who orchestrated the HP boardroom spying probe that spawned criminal and congressional investigations, was diagnosed with the ovarian cancer in 2004, and had surgery in August on a metastasized tumor, family members have said.

She stepped down from the HP board last month amid an uproar over the spying campaign on directors and reporters that prompted the resignation of two other board members and the departure of three top HP employees.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has said he has enough evidence to charge people in the probe, and the FBI and a congressional panel are also investigating.

Dunn testified last week before the panel, saying she didn’t know about any potentially illegal tactics used in the investigation and wasn’t responsible for the probe.

Dunn had beaten cancer twice before, stepping down in 2002 as CEO of fund management giant Barclays Global Investors to battle breast cancer and melanoma.

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