Gaintner Family Endowment for Arts in Medicine

This fund was established by the Gaintner Family in 1999 for the purpose of supporting teaching, research and programs in the Arts of Medicine in the Health Science Center.

J. Richard Gaintner was born in Lancaster, PA on February 18, 1936. He earned his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1962. He was a captain in the Army Medical Corps and served as assistant chief of staff at the 85th Evacuation Hospital in Qui Nhom, Vietnam.

Richard returned to Johns Hopkins to serve as associate dean of the medical school, as well as vice president and deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, during the early 1980s. He was named to the Johns Hopkins University society of scholars.

From 1983-89, Richard was president and chief executive officer of Albany Medical Center in New York and held the same position from 1989-93 at New England Deaconess Hospital. He came to Gainesville in 1997 to take the helm of Shands HealthCare as chief executive officer and retired in 2001.

Richard and his wife, Suzanne, had three daughters, Jennie Gaintner, Sally Hess and Wendy Holcomb.

Richard Gaintner passed away on May 26, 2004.