Former Trustee Chair J. Alexander McMahon Dies at Age 87

J. Alexander McMahon, who as a trustee chair, faculty member and health care leader helped advise Duke University and hospital officials for more than four decades, died Thursday at his home in Durham. He was 87.

A native of Monongahela, Pa., and a 1942 Duke graduate, McMahon began working with Duke officials when he was president of North Carolina Blue Cross and Blue Shield in the late 1960s. He worked with Dr. William Anlyan and other Duke medical officials on regional health issues.

McMahon joined the Duke Board of Trustees in 1970 under President Terry Sanford and served as chairman of the board from 1971 to 1983. For much of that time, McMahon served as president of the American Hospital Association, a leading national organization that represents hospitals, health care networks and patients on a variety of health issues.

After he took on trustee and emeriti status in 1983 and retired from the AHA in 1986, he accepted Anlyan's invitation to become a Duke faculty member and chair of the then Department of Hospital Administration, an academic program then located in the medical center. McMahon built up the program during an important time of change in health care and oversaw its transfer to the Fuqua School of Business in the 1990s.

"Alex McMahon was a giant in the field of health care nationally and an important leader at Duke and Duke Hospital. He was also a wise counselor, a great gentleman, and a great friend," said President Richard H. Brodhead Friday. "He and [his wife] Moanie have been among Duke's warmest supporters. Duke football games won't be the same without him."

"He was a long-time personal friend and a terrific person," Anylan said. "Terry Sanford once told me that he depended on Alex to push the right light if we were doing something wrong. He rarely had to do that, but his advice was always wise.

"We very much counted on him. When he retired from the AHA, I was desperately looking for someone to head the health administration program. He accepted the offer and took it over and really built that program up."

In 2002, Duke presented McMahon with the University Medal for service to the institution, the university's highest honor. In her remarks, then-President Nannerl O. Keohane said McMahon always encouraged university leaders to think of what the world would look like in the future.

"Alex articulated a philosophy that set the tone for the university's direction -- doing fewer things better rather than doing everything without concern for resource limitations," Keohane said in presenting the award. "He told [one] interviewer, ‘The thing I can say with some relish is that we had controversy. My God, if you have an institution with no controversy, you have an institution that isn't doing anything.'"

President H. Keith H. Brodie said that as a trustee and faculty member, McMahon was in a unique position to speak to both university constituencies. He was respected throughout the university and used that to help build consensus on important issues.

"Alex was true ‘Duke Blue' and very supportive to university in several roles," Brodie said. "He spoke with a twinkle in his eye, and his wit always shined through."

After graduating from Duke, McMahon enlisted in the Army in 1942, was commissioned in the Army Air Corps in 1942, served in the South Pacific during World War II, was a member of the Air Force Reserve from 1946 to 1972, and retired with the rank of colonel in 1972.

He received a law degree from Harvard in 1948. After teaching at UNC's Institute of Government and serving as general counsel for the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, he became vice president for special development for the Hospital Savings Association in 1965. He joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield in 1968.

He wrote numerous articles on health care and governmental issues, and received many honors and awards. In his honor, the American Hospital Association established the J. Alexander McMahon Professorship in Health Policy and Management at Duke.

At Duke, in addition to the University Medal, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1996 and a lifetime achievement award from Fuqua in 1998.

He is survived by his brother, William Wallace McMahon of Hilton Head, S.C.; his wife Ann Hall Davis McMahon (Moanie); his four children: Alexander Talpey McMahon and his wife Ellen Larson McMahon of Pleasanton, Cal., Sarah Francis McMahon of Brunswick, Maine, Elizabeth Wagner McMahon and her husband Gary Peter Gordon of Easton, Pa., and Ann Wallace McMahon and her husband Simon James Martin Jackson of London, England; and five grandchildren: Rebecca Leah Gordon and Hannah Ruth Gordon of Easton, Pa., Alice Elizabeth Smith McMahon of Brunswick, Maine, and Alexander Robert McMahon and Patrick Lars McMahon of Pleasanton, Cal.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, Nov. 14, at 11 a.m. in Duke Chapel. A reception will follow the service at the Fuqua School of Business.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Duke University Marine Laboratory.