The Passing of a Giant

Last week, GBMC lost a great friend. Mr. Willard Hackerman, the President of the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company (America’s fourth largest construction company and the builder of many edifices in our region) died at the age of 95. Mr. Hackerman was a great business leader and also a great philanthropist. Many, many organizations and individuals benefited from Mr. Hackerman’s gifts. In 2009, he gave GBMC $1 million dollars that allowed us to purchase a da Vinci robot for advanced surgical care.

When I first came to GBMC in the summer of 2010, I went to Mr. Hackerman’s office to thank him. He was so kind and generous with his time to me. He told me the story of the Whiting-Turner Company and his role in its development. He was so joyful in speaking of his mentor, Mr. Whiting, and he was so humble when asked of his own accomplishments. Mr. Hackerman invited me to visit his map collection…an invitation that I could not pass up even though I knew nothing about maps. I was fascinated not only by the maps but also by the depth of his knowledge of the topic.

Willard Hackerman worked very hard and accomplished much. He was the exemplar of someone who knew to give back to the community. GBMC and the entire Baltimore region benefited greatly from his presence and his actions. We will miss him dearly.

I Hate Snow!

My family and I moved here from New England so I am no stranger to cold and snow. But one of the reasons I was so excited to come to Baltimore was to get away from snow. I don’t enjoy winter and I enjoy it less each year. So this winter has been tough to take! Last Thursday, after shoveling the snow off of my street for about 50 yards, I got in the car and blasted through about 200 yards of snow to get to the first street in my neighborhood that was plowed. I drove to work and found what I always find….dedicated staff, most of who had been there since the previous day. Let me take this opportunity to thank everyone who worked so hard to get the job done for our patients and our community in that snow storm.

Special thanks must go to our beloved four man grounds team: George Dillon, Bob Marshall, Eduardo Rivera and Dave Mier. These guys worked just about around the clock with our snow removal vendors to make our campus safe and passable! Thank you, guys.

Thank You Team GBMC

Check out this video that shows some of our dedicated team members who helped keep GBMC fully operational to provide seamless care for our patients during the recent snow storm.