Charles Gambill, former board chairman of Illinois Masonic, dies at 87

Feb. 18--Charles F. Gambill used his skills from a long career in finance to shepherd the Illinois Masonic Medical Center through an era of tremendous change.

As the hospital's chairman for more than a decade and a half, Gambill steered the North Side hospital through expansions and an ultimate acquisition by Advocate Health in 2000. Then, for an additional 16 years, Gambill was chairman of the Masonic Family Health Foundation -- which endows the hospital and Masonic charities.

"Chuck made a profound and lasting impact on the medical center throughout his 35 years of service," said Susan Nordstrom Lopez, president of Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. "During the turbulence in Chicago health care during that crucial and challenging period, he was a steadying influence in both hospital governance and the charitable mission of the Masonic Family Health Foundation."

Gambill, 87, died of complications from Parkinson's disease on Jan. 16 at his home, said his wife of 57 years, Shirley. He had moved to a retirement community in Batavia in 2018 and previously had lived in Hinsdale for 56 years.

Born in Oak Park, Gambill moved with his parents to River Forest while he was in high school. In 1950, he graduated from a private prep school, Asheville School for Boys -- now known as the Asheville School -- in Asheville, N.C. He earned a bachelor's degree in business from Washington and Lee University in 1954.

Gambill served two years in the Army before joining his family business, Chicago-based Globe Co., which was a large manufacturer of metal products like safety gratings, electric cable trays and components for metal storage racks, which were largely used in meatpacking houses. Early on, Gambill was the company's sales promotion manager before becoming its vice president in charge of packing house equipment.

After Gambill's family sold the company to the United States Gypsum Co. in 1964, Gambill pursued work in the securities industry. In 1967, he became an account executive at the Chicago office of the Clark, Dodge & Co. brokerage firm.

In 1973, Gambill founded Gambill Development, a financial planning firm. He ran that firm until stepping back from the work in the early 1990s, his wife said.

In the 1960s, a family friend, then-Illinois Masonic Medical Center board President Warren Barr, encouraged Gambill to become part of the hospital. Gambill already had been involved in Masonic organizations, and he soon joined the board. He was named the board's secretary in 1971, and he became the board's chairman in 1984.

During his years as chairman, Gambill oversaw a renovation and 30,000-square-foot expansion of the hospital's center for infants and the construction of a five-level parking deck.

"He was a low-key but persistent visionary who helped guide us through major expansion and changes, while never losing his focus on the ultimate goal: service to our patients," Nordstrom Lopez said.

When there were gaps in the hospital's operating leadership, Gambill would step in on a day-to-day basis to oversee the hospital, said Perry Pero, a longtime hospital board member who then became the vice chairman of the Masonic Family Health Foundation.

The hospital also encountered a heavily competitive hospital marketplace on Chicago's North Side, which was compounded throughout the 1990s by health insurers working to keep people out of hospitals. Ultimately, the hospital merged with Advocate Health Care in 2000.

"He had the respect of everyone around him and he was an exceedingly thoughtful individual and was instrumental in leading the effort to sell the hospital to Advocate," Pero said. "He clearly saw the significant changes that were going on in the heath care industry, particularly as related to hospitals. That acquisition by Advocate was a good strategic move."

A condition of the hospital's sale to Advocate was the establishment of the Masonic Family Health Foundation, Pero said.

"Chuck wanted to have a foundation established," Pero said. "And the Masonic Family Heath Foundation is involved in supporting the activities of Advocate and also supporting independent Masonic activities and charitable activities and also charities in the metropolitan Chicago area that provide good for the community and are not necessarily Masonic entities. His judgment was outstanding."

Gambill remained on the foundation's board until stepping down in 2016. The hospital honored Gambill in 2015 by naming the lobby in its adjoining three-story outpatient facility for him.

Gambill had been a member of the Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton since 1981. Other interests included refurbishing old Jaguar cars, collecting old ticker tape wires and duck hunting on a farm he owned in downstate Bath.

In addition to his wife, Gambill is survived by a daughter, Catherine Wadington; a son, Charles Jr.; three grandchildren; and a twin sister, Gene Andersen.

Services were held.

Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

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