Morton Plant Mease Foundation History
From their inception both Mease and Morton Plant have been blessed with supporters who with their time, talent, energy and material resources have helped the hospitals achieve their goals. Initially, individual fund-raising campaigns were used to meet specific targeted needs. In time the two hospitals established formal offices charged with finding sources of continuing private sector support.
At Morton Plant, fund-raising operations were centered in the Community Relations and Development office until 1976. In that year, the trustees appointed a board to research the idea of a permanent foundation. A year later the Morton Plant Foundation was established, with Col. Edward Imparato as president.
David J. Rosser, the Foundation's first professional fund-raiser, assumed the post of executive director in 1978. During the next 15 years, his creativity and drive brought the Foundation national recognition as well as a remarkable growth in total assets. One of the Foundation's major achievements during his tenure was the establishment of the Planned Giving Department, under the direction of Marty Matula, which has become a model for healthcare foundations around the country. After Mr. Rosser's retirement, he was followed briefly by Russell Raker III.
At Mease Hospital, although major benefactors were not numerous, the loyalty of patients and other local residents took the form of many small gifts as well as a number of large ones. In 1977 the Mease Foundation was formed, with R.C. Alexander as executive director and with 25 civic leaders serving as its board. In 1979 Bob Watson was named executive director, a post he would hold for 14 years until his untimely death in 1993. He was followed by Robert V. Docherty, who held the post until 1996.
By 1994, when the partnership between Mease and Morton Plant was approved, it seemed inevitable that the two foundations would themselves be joined. Thanks to the dedication and careful planning shown by both boards of directors, led by Mease chairman David Nelson and Morton Plant chairman Leo Merzweiler, the separate foundations of Morton Plant and Mease Hospitals merged on January 1, 1996. In June of that year, Holly H. Duncan joined the new Morton Plant Mease Health Care Foundation, Inc., as its first president and chief executive officer, a post that Mrs. Duncan still holds today.
Would you like to learn more about the hospitals and the merged health system? Click
on the links below to learn more!
Mease Dunedin Hospital
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