When Ross MacPherson was 11, his father, Robert G. MacPherson Jr., died from lymphoma. “He had first gone to Dana Farber [Cancer Institute] only about one year before,” Mr. MacPherson, who is now 28, recalled this week. “It didn’t take very long.”

That event would propel young Ross on a journey of philanthropy dedicated to the memory of his father, and later to all victims of lymphoma and related diseases. At age 13, the Vineyard Haven native participated in his first “walk,” the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Light the Night Walk against cancer, in Hyannis. “I went with some family friends—Jim and Lorraine Pringle [of Vineyard Haven]— who had done that walk in the past,” he said. He has continued on that and similar walks right up to the present.

Today, Mr. MacPherson, a property manager living in Plympton, is in the midst of his latest fundraising drive, aimed at raising $20,000 for the society. He remains steadfastly motivated by his father’s memory, but this year he has an additional incentive: he is one of four finalists for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Man of the Year award. The winner will be named June 7 in a ceremony at the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston. “To be honest, the winner will probably be the one who raises the most money,” he said.

In the last decade or so, Mr. MacPherson has learned to use one of his strengths—singing—as a fundraising tool in the fight against cancer. A 2002 graduate of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, he was a member of the Minnesingers group.

When he got to the University of New Hampshire, he became a member of the a capella group Not Too Sharp. When the group’s manager was diagnosed with cancer, Not Too Sharp began donating the proceeds to its spring 2003 concert and other shows to the fight against cancer and has raised some $10,000 since then, according to Mr. MacPherson. In recent years, the group has been splitting its donations between LLS and the American Cancer Society. As vice president of the a capella group’s alumni association, Mr. MacPherson has helped lead the fundraising efforts since his years as a student at UNH.

He started this latest Leukemia & Lymphoma Society fundraising effort on March 27, and estimates he has raised $5,000 to $6,000 so far. His goal is to raise a total of $20,000 before the society’s Boston meeting on June 7. In addition to soliciting funds directly from the public, he is reaching out to Vineyard merchants and restaurateurs to participate in the auction to be held at the LLS gathering in June.

He has the support of his mother, Betsy MacPherson of Vineyard Haven, his brother, Reid MacPherson, 23, a graduate student at Mass Art in Boston, and an array of uncles, aunts and cousins on the Island.

He says his efforts remain a labor of love for his late father, who spent the last 18-plus years of his life on the Vineyard and had been a surveyor at Schofield Brothers. “The amount of progress [in research and treatment] that has been made since [1994] has been astonishing,” said Mr. MacPherson.

He said he is still motivated after all these years by two things: “My father’s memory and the desire to get to the point where no one has to lose their father at age 11.”

Donations may be made to Ross MacPherson’s secure fundraising Web site at ma.mwoy.llsevent.org/macpherson or by calling him at 508-274-3823.