October 23, 1998

H. Richard Nesson, MD, who helped oversee the formation of Partners HealthCare System, died unexpectedly of a heart attack Oct. 18 at his home in Chestnut Hill. He was 66.

In 1993, Nesson was integral in bringing together the MGH and BWH to form Partners, one of the first such affiliations among major academic teaching hospitals in Massachusetts. He went on to serve as the first chief executive officer of Partners from 1994 to 1997 and president from 1995 to 1997.

"This is indeed a loss for the entire Partners system," says Samuel O. Thier, MD, president and CEO of Partners. "Dick laid the foundation for this integrated system of eminent health care institutions. He and his vision certainly will be missed terribly."

Uniting health care institutions was not new to Nesson, who was actively involved in the affiliation of BWH's predecessor hospitals, the Peter Bent Brigham, the Robert Breck Brigham and the Boston Hospital for Women, in 1980. He served as president of the newly formed BWH for 15 years, beginning in 1982.

In 1997, after stepping down as BWH and Partners president, he took on the roles of president emeritus of the hospital; chairman of the board of Partners Community HealthCare, Inc., the network of community-based physicians affiliated with Partners; and senior consultant to Partners. He also maintained his role as professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

"Dick Nesson was an extraordinary leader in health care whose wisdom and counsel at Partners have been invaluable," says James J. Mongan, MD, MGH president. "We will miss him greatly."

Nesson was the founder and first medical director of Harvard Community Health Plan, and after joining BWH, he directed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program aimed at improving outpatient services at 15 of the country's academic medical centers, including Johns Hopkins, Yale-New Haven and Vanderbilt.

"His accomplishments as a leader in academic medicine are legendary," says Jeffrey Otten, who succeeded Nesson as president of BWH. "But as great as his professional accomplishments were, Dick Nesson, the man, was even greater. A compassionate, generous leader and visionary, he has been an inspiration to us all.

Nesson served as a health care advocate in a variety of roles, including chairman of the Massachusetts Hospital Association, director of the Massachusetts United Way, chairman of the Harvard Medical Center AIDS Committee and a member of the Policy Advisory Committee of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.