Born in Canada, Tonken was a doctor's son who dropped out of high school, suffering from a self-described case of attention deficit disorder.
Star-struck from youth, he arrived in Los Angeles 12 years ago at the age of 26. He soon found himself living in the Beverly Hills guest house of Zsa Zsa Gabor, whom he had met in a restaurant. His first stab at the event business was a restaurant opening with a celebrity cast led by actor-model Fabio. Before long, Tonken was organizing galas around the likes of comics Red Buttons and Milton Berle.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday December 23, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 39 words Type of Material: Correction
Charity events -- Not all of the charities and institutions mentioned in an article on the front page of Section A on Dec. 8 about event promoter Aaron Tonken had knowledge of his plans or his dealings with celebrities.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday December 26, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 93 words Type of Material: Correction
Aaron Tonken -- A Dec. 8 article about event promoter Aaron Tonken on the front page of Section A said Bill Cosby had been sent a contract by the William Morris Agency stating that he was to receive a luxury sedan for a charity event. A Steve Lopez column in the California section Dec. 10 made a similar reference to the car. The article and the column should have made it clear that the sedan would have been for Cosby's use only as transportation to and from the event, which never was held.
Documents obtained by The Times showed no evidence that Fabio received payment. Milton Berle's widow, Lorna, confirmed that the entertainer was paid for a Tonken benefit appearance. "It was like a job," she said. Buttons, who was honored at a benefit, said he never received money from Tonken, notwithstanding a 2000 letter in which the promoter promised to deliver $25,000 in monthly installments.
Often, such past-their-prime entertainers were drawn to Tonken's charitable events by the promise of payments far in excess of their usual fees.
Singer Paul Anka, for one, was paid $100,000 and transported by Learjet to perform three songs at an Aug. 25, 2002, fundraiser for Minnesota's Starkey Hearing Aid Foundation. His normal rate is just half that, according to a schedule published by the Maryland-based Hill Herwood booking service.
Asked about a deal to do an additional Tonken benefit in return for a fee, Anka said he pulled out after a check for the Minnesota performance was returned by the bank. "The moment the check bounced," he said, "it was over."
Scrambling to shore up relations, Tonken sent Anka a piece of Steuben glass valued at $1,575, according to an invoice from a Los Angeles shopping service. Anka's thank-you note got right to the point: "The next gift box should be full of cash."
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Jewelry and Tickets
Among Tonken's deeper relationships was with singer Natalie Cole, who became one of his earliest show business supporters after he won a luncheon with her as the prize at a charity auction.
In a tender, handwritten note, she once told him: "Dear Aaron, Here is the devotional pamphlet I told you about. Read it faithfully. Ask for wisdom and spiritual maturity. Pray for guidance."
In an April 1999 letter, however, Cole was all business.
"I am enclosing a copy of the agreement/letter that you wrote to me back in November 1998 as a gentle reminder of the 'unfinished business' between us," she wrote.
