'M*A*S*H' items at auction to help Alan Alda Center at Stony Brook

More than 40 years after "M*A*S*H" bid farewell to television audiences, its most iconic character is finally giving up his boots and dog tags — with the proceeds going to support the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University.

Alda, a New York native best known for playing the wisecracking surgeon Capt. Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce on the critically acclaimed series, announced this month that he would put up for auction the scuffed-up combat boots and two nickel-and-copper dog tags that he wore on the show for 11 seasons.

Funding from the July 28 auction in Dallas will benefit one of Alda's biggest passions: the endowment at the Stony Brook science center that bears his name.

Alda, 87, who lives in Water Mill and hosts the popular podcast "Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda," said the opportunity to provide financial support to the center convinced him to give up his mementos.

"I knew they were going to a good cause," Alda said in a statement through Heritage Auctions, which is managing the sale. "They were going to do more good than sitting in my closet. They were screaming, 'Let me out!' I thought, what a great chance to put these boots and dog tags to work again. For 11 years, they helped promote the idea that human connection could be a palliative for war. And now they can promote the idea that a human connection can get us to understand the things that affect our lives so deeply."

In 2006, Alda, a lifelong science buff who spent 12 years hosting PBS' "Scientific American Frontiers," approached Stony Brook's leadership with the idea to make communication training a component of science education. 

Laura Lindenfeld, executive director of the center, said Alda's support has been critical to their success.

"We're so grateful to him, said Lindenfeld, who also serves as the dean of Stony Brook's School of Communications and Journalism.

"He walks in lockstep with us and he's deeply involved with the center," she said. "Everything we do is rooted in his commitment to use improv to help scientists communicate more effectively with different audiences to really reach the public."

Alda has brought improvisational exercises to classrooms at Stony Brook, where the center has trained more than 20,000 scientists in nine countries, as well as at Harvard and Cornell universities, the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Defense.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.