The medical school named "Brody" says a great deal about this family of local entrepreneurs and medical center supporters.

     Among them is David S. Brody, whose work as board chairman, member, volunteer and donor helped shape the hospital's development during a critical time of growth and change.

     He led the board during the controversial move to privatize and shepherded vital decisions to expand and
consolidate with other healthcare centers in eastern North Carolina.

     The grandson of Hyman Joseph Brody, who started a department store in Sumter, SC in 1917, David moved to Greenville after college graduation in 1972 to work with his family business. In 1977, he moved to Kinston, eventuallly becoming president of stores there and in Jacksonville and Goldsboro.

In all he served on the hospital board for 16 years before leaving in 2000. Not counting ex-officio members, that's a record, and for Brody, it was time well spent. He calls the hospital "an amazing facility."

"It has done so much to elevate the quality of life on so many fronts," he says of the medical center. "You cannot begin to calculate the effects in the region."

     The son of Ethel and Reuben Brody, David began serving on the board in 1983-1990 as an appointee of the UNC Board of Governors. With only one break, he has continued to serve.

As a businessman, David Brody has helped bring the hospital board insight on how to break complex organizational tasks into manageable steps. During the struggle for privitization, he guided the board's behind-the-scenes negotiations to purchase Tarboro's Heritage Hospital. The board had to act quickly. "I don't think people realized just how much was going on in that little time zone," he remembers.
In addition, the hospital was considering expanding into Edenton.

"There were so many things that started coming together which made the whole time complicated," he remembers.

      "There was a whole series of events, so we definately had a lot of pressure. We had to make a decision, we had to put together financing in short order and we had to get a decision from the county commissioners."

     Brody also backed the new organizational configuration joining the medical school, hospital and other hospitals in the area.

"We needed the University Health Systems structure," he says. "It was the right thing to do."

As proof of its success, he points to the system's stability and growth. "We are financially stronger because we were able to go private and we were able to reorganize," he says. We were able to buy hospitals under this structure, and take costs out of the system and still maintain high-quality care."

Clear ideals keep the hospital and medical center moving in a positive direction.

"I think one of the keys to the success of this hospital has been its mission. That has always been the mainstay, the purpose, the light people have gone to.

"This is how we are going to be successful in the future: keeping that focus on our mission of service. How we keep that mission is probably our greatest challenge. It is the real test of where we go and who we are. It's the one thing we don't want to lose."

In 1999, university trustees changed the medical school's name to reflect the family's ongoing financial support when it received an $8 million donation from the Brody Brothers Foundation. The family's donations over the years total $22 million.

David S. Brody