Exec helped transform Texas Medical Center
Richard Wainerdi, 89, a former president and chief executive officer who helped transform the Texas Medical Center, died last Wednesday in his home.
He spent 28 years at the Medical Center, but his career spanned more than six decades in academia, the energy industry, and the nonprofit sector.
A petroleum engineering graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Wainerdi came to the Medical Center after retiring from Gulf Oil Corp., where he served as president of the worldwide research division. Before that, he spent 20 years at Texas A&M University, where he founded the Nuclear Science Center.
He was president of the Medical Center from 1984 until 2012. During his tenure, he transformed the complex into the world’s largest medical center, home to 49 institutions and the equivalent of the nation’s 11th-biggest downtown. The center grew from 31 institutions and tripled in size while he was president.
Although he spent nearly three decades at the Medical Center, that wasn’t the plan initially. In the summer of 1984, he received a call from Richard J.V. Johnson, then-chairman of the board of the Medical Center and publisher of the Houston Chronicle. It took several meetings with Johnson before he agreed to serve as president of the Medical Center, but he said it was only going to be “for a couple of years.”
It did not take long before he “fell in love with the place.” Upon his retirement, he spoke of his time there fondly.
“I wasn’t playing any of the instruments, but it’s been a privilege being the conductor,” Wainerdi told the Houston Chronicle in 2011. “This is a magical place to be a part of.”
He was also a part of the group of policymakers that made the flood plan after the hospital was hit during Tropical Storm Allison, which ultimately led to the hospital being one of the few places that stayed dry during Hurricane Harvey.
Beyond his work, he also worked behind the scenes for charitable foundations and organizations. As someone who served in the military, there were two organizations that were particularly special to him: the Fisher House Foundation, which builds homes where military and veterans families can stay free of charge while a loved one is in the hospital or receiving treatment, and The Rise School, dedicated to helping children with developmental disabilities to get the start they need to build successful independent lives.
Wainerdi is preceded in death by his wife of 56 years, Angela Elizabeth Wainerdi, and leaves behind children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A private service will be held in College Station on March 25. Instead of flowers, the family has requested memorial gifts may be made to:
Fisher House Foundation: https://www.fisherhouse.org
The Rise School: https://riseschool.org/makea-donation.html