Edward Vogler was a billionaire owner of a pharmaceutical company who donated a large sum of money to Princeton-Plainsboro. He became the new Chairman of The Board. He disliked House and went to great efforts to get him fired.
His dad had given him $20,000 for college, which he would have realized was a mistake had he known that Vogler was not actually in college. Vogler accepted the money and he invested it in a friend who owned a small business. The business made a lot of money making Vogler a multi-millionaire. He called his dad who was upset with him for not telling him that he was not in college; the two did not speak for a while. He next decided to invest the money in more businesses, all of which were incredibly successful. Vogler went public and became a billionaire overnight. He went to see his dad, where Vogler told him about all the money he had made with the money that he had received from him, but his father said nothing. It turned out that he didn't recognize Vogler because his Alzheimer's had taken a turn for the worst.
So Vogler decided to donate $100 million to PPTH, ostensibly to help cure diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and cancer. However, his condition was to become chairman of the board of directors in order to control what his money was spent on. He took an immediate dislike to House, at first for his consistent failure to wear a lab coat, but then after he noted that House brought in very little income for the money he spent.
Robert Chase agreed to spy on House for Vogler, essentially in a bid to save his own job. Vogler then demanded that House fire one of his fellows to save money. Cameron came up with the idea of having everyone take a pay cut, but although House offered Vogler the option, Vogler turned it down - what he really wanted was to let House know that he was no longer calling the shots on his team. Without knowing of Chase's betrayal, House finally chose to fire Chase, but Vogler told him at that point he had to fire either Cameron or Foreman as, although Vogler had tried to get both Cameron and Foreman to replace Chase as his snitch, they had both refused.
However, Vogler gave House one more chance - if House would agree to give a talk saying how wonderful one of Vogler's new drugs was, he would agree to keep everyone on. House agreed, to the astonishment of his team and the relief of Wilson and Cuddy. However, House soon realized that Vogler's new drug, called Viopril (fictive), was merely an expensive alternative to a cheap medication to which Vogler had added nothing more than an antacid. Instead of giving Vogler's impressive speech, House explained to the astonished audience and a stunned Vogler that they should continue to use the old cheap drug, because it was just as good. As a result, Cameron agreed to leave the team. In addition, House figured out that Chase was the snitch and, since he couldn't fire him, had to live with the fact.
After House embarrassed him, Vogler tried to have the board fire House because of his methods and lack of discipline, warning "either he goes, or I go." However, as House had tenure, a unanimous vote of the board was needed. Only one of the board members objected: James Wilson. Because he needed a unanimous vote, Vogler motioned for Wilson to be voted off the board, which only required a majority vote. It was close, but despite Cuddy's support, Wilson lost his board position and had to resign as head of oncology. As a failed motion had to wait 24 hours, Vogler had to wait another day to bring the motion.
However, in the meantime, House not only managed to save the barely viable fetus of a woman who died of cancer, he also managed to clear a couple of criminal negligence for apparently neglecting their baby by diagnosing a rare glandular disorder. As a result, Dr. Cuddy objected to firing House the final time the board met on the issue, mainly due to being fed up with Vogler's tyrannical attitude and stance ("And you're not accountable for anyone either! Because you think you OWN US!"). Vogler responded by moving to have Cuddy removed from the Board, but before she left, she reminded the board that if they didn't stand up to Vogler now, they would never get another chance. The motion to remove her was defeated and Vogler left the hospital, with his money.
Vogler has not been seen on the show since. However, Chase's involvement with him has been referenced, if not with mention to Vogler. House treated Chase harshly during the episode Kids, though by the first season finale they seemed to be working together as normal. During the third season, Detective Michael Tritter mentioned he had heard Chase had betrayed his boss before, alluding to Chase's involvement with Vogler.
Vogler board meeting
Other Media
Vogler is mentioned in House M.D. - Critical Cases as the owner of "Vogler Field" and its minor league baseball team. House tries to convince the patient and his brother to plant hypodermic needles where league officials will find them.