Scott Rowand, the first CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences Centre, and previous to that, CEO of Wellesley Central Hospital in Toronto, died at his home in Toronto. He was 57.
From the Hamilton Spectator
Scott Rowand, the first CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences Centre., is being remembered as “a good guy with a compassionate heart” by longtime friend and former hospital executive Grant Walsh.
Rowand, who served as CEO from 1996 to 2000, was found dead in his Toronto condominium Monday afternoon by his nephew. He was 57.
Cause of death is not known and funeral arrangements have not yet been released.
“It was shocking to learn that he died,” said Walsh, the former head of St. Peter’s Hospital. “He was far too young. It’s just a waste of talent for a man to die at his age.”
Walsh, who said he had just recently talked to Rowand on the phone, called him a “wonderful friend” with whom he regularly enjoyed having meals involving “good food and good wine.”
Rowand came to Hamilton in November 1996 to head up the merged operations of four city hospitals — the Henderson (now Juravinski), Chedoke, McMaster and Hamilton General. They had operated under two separate corporations, Hamilton Civic and Chedoke-McMaster hospitals.
His appointment followed a four-month cross-country search. Rowand had been CEO of Wellesley Central Hospital in Toronto, which was created from the merging of the Wellesley and Central hospitals in April 1996. The son of a doctor, Rowand had a degree in health administration from the University of Alberta.
Rowand left HHSC in May 2000 after the province appointed a supervisor to run the corporation due to a $40-million deficit. He opened his own consulting firm specializing in hospital and health care issues.
Former regional chair Terry Cooke, who sat on the first HHSC board, found Rowand “a very bright, driven, congenial guy.
“He was here during a difficult and tumultuous time and did his level best to try and manage through a difficult transition,” he said. “He was someone who was very much an agent of change.”