“Scientology and what it has made available to me in the way of courses and other programs has steered me in the direction of becoming a better and more capable person. Thus I feel it is an honor and personal obligation to share my financial success with Scientology,” Duggan said.
A phone call to a Scientology spokesperson wasn’t immediately returned.
Cookie Muncher
Born in Berkeley, California, Duggan started investing in the mid-1960s when he was enrolled at the University of California in Santa Barbara and then at the University of California in Los Angeles. Duggan said he didn’t obtain a degree from either institution. By about 1968, Duggan had already made money from investments in computer companies, according to Dan Patterson, a former Olympic volleyball player who was married to the sister of Duggan’s wife, Patricia, in the 1970s.
Duggan was “very sharp and of course I knew him very well back in those days,” Patterson said in a phone interview from his home in Colorado. “He had quite a reputation in his early college years getting involved in investments, and had a real knack at being extremely inquisitive and extremely thorough and did his homework.”
$40,000 Courses
Patterson and Duggan created Cookie Muncher’s Paradise in Long Beach, California, in 1976. Originally a gourmet cookie shop, the pair built it into a 16-store sandwich chain called Paradise Bakery. They sold the chain to Chart House Restaurants in 1987 for about $6 million, said Patterson, who worked at Paradise until it was sold again to Panera Bread Co. in 2006. He is now retired.
“Bob is very energetic, very engaging and so there was a great start for me,” he said. “I have nothing but great things to say about him.”
Before he sold the bakery, Duggan began taking classes with the Church of Scientology, after seeing his wife’s experience with them, he said. At that time they cost a few hundred dollars, said Duggan. Equivalent introductory courses today would cost $40,000, according to Kristi Wachter, who has published data on the church at www.truthaboutscientology.com. Her information is derived from materials published by the Church of Scientology, she said.
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