Bryan A. Rogers, 1925-2012: Retired Toledo Hospital executive helped create ProMedica system

Bryan A. Rogers, a retired president and chief executive of Toledo Hospital who was a leader in local and state professional groups, died Thursday in Providence Park Hospital, Novi, Mich. He was 86.

He had end-stage kidney disease and bone cancer, his daughter, Amy, said.

Formerly of Sylvania Township, he and his wife, Jean, moved to the Fox Run retirement community in Novi about six years ago.

Mr. Rogers was a career hospital executive. He was executive vice president and administrator of Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis, when he was hired in 1972 to be Toledo Hospital's administrator.

He became president of Toledo Hospital in 1977. He retired in 1991.

"I absolutely remember him fondly. He was a mentor to me," said W. Scott Fry, president and chief executive officer of the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio.

Mr. Rogers was chairman of the council's board of trustees when Mr. Fry was hired in 1985.

"He was the consummate health-care executive," Mr. Fry said. "He was a gentleman. I recall him as being very erudite, extraordinarily knowledgeable about health care, just very progressive for his time. He was a very patient-centered executive."

He had good relations with the medical community, and he had a vision for the hospital he led, said Kathleen Hanley, who at the time was Toledo Hospital vice president of finance.

"Under his leadership, he helped to establish our ProMedica system, which was the vision of expanding from a hospital [to] a health-care integrated delivery system that includes Paramount Health Plan and ProMedica Physicians," said Ms. Hanley, now chief financial officer of ProMedica.

The hospital expanded in size and patient capacity and built the Jobst and Macintosh Towers and an education center under his leadership, Ms. Hanley said, but he left an impression beyond bricks and mortar.

"He was a very religious man, and he was respectful of individuals," Ms. Hanley said. "He would walk the halls, and his attention to detail was what made the organization great.

"All he wanted was the best, with the patient in mind," she said.

He regularly worked Saturdays so that he could open the mail and be set for the week ahead, said his daughter, who went along as he stopped in at the office and toured the hospital.

"He would be on every floor, talking to everyone, from nursing to environmental services, and they all knew him," his daughter said. "He loved to talk to people and really find out what they wanted."

Mr. Rogers was a former chairman of the Ohio Public Health Council and a former chairman of the Ohio Hospital Association. He served, by appointment of then-Gov. James A. Rhodes, on the public health council of the Ohio Department of Health. He also served in the American Hospital Association's House of Delegates. He'd been a director of Voluntary Hospitals of America and Voluntary Hospitals of Ohio. He was a fellow of the American College of Hospital Administrators.

He also had associations with the Council of Teaching Hospitals, the National League for Nursing, and Blue Cross of Northwest Ohio.

He was a charter member of the University of Toledo's business advisory council and was on an advisory board for UT's former Community and Technical College.

He was a former director of the Rotary Club of Toledo, the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce, and the former Toledo Trust Co. He was a former honorary chairman of the YWCA's Tribute to Women and Industry and was on the board of the YMCA of Greater Toledo.

In 1984, he and Toledo Hospital were recognized by the American College of Hospital Administrators for outstanding cost-control management.

He was born Aug. 2, 1925, in Akron to Helen and Jesse Rogers. After high school, he attended Duke University in Durham, N.C., with the thought of becoming a physician. He was drafted and became a surgical technician and sergeant in the Army's 720th Railway Operating Battalion. He served in Europe and was awarded three Bronze Stars.

Afterward, he went to the University of Akron, from which he received a bachelor's degree in literature. He took a vocational test that showed he would be best suited to hospital administration, and he went to Washington University in St. Louis, from which he received a master's degree in the field. He later was an adjunct instructor of health-care administration there and at UT.

He was hired by Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis in 1954 and rose from administrative assistant to assistant superintendent, associate director, and associate executive director, administrator, and executive vice president. During his tenure, the hospital expanded to 1,150 beds from 450.

In retirement, he and his wife, Jean, volunteered for Citizens Development Corps, a nongovernmental organization. He shared his administrative expertise with hospitals in Bulgaria and Zambia.

The couple enjoyed leisure travel as well but avoided tour groups. They navigated, on their own, vacations to Greece, Turkey, China, and Australia, often staying in small hotels.

"They were quite adventurous," their daughter said.

He was an elder at Christ Presbyterian Church, Toledo, and was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Northville, Mich.

Surviving are his wife, Jean Rogers, whom he married Dec. 29, 1949, daughter, Amy Rogers, son, Mark Rogers, and two grandsons.

Memorial services are to be Wednesday at 11 a.m. in the O'Brien/Sullivan Funeral Home, Novi, Mich.

The family suggests tributes to the Rotary Foundations, the ProMedica Toledo Hospital Foundation, and the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northwest Ohio.

Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.