Christopher G Dawes

Christopher G. Dawes, former CEO of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford, died on Saturday June 29 2019 as a result of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He was 68 years old. Dawes stepped down from his post as president and CEO of the hospital in March 2018 to focus on his health. Born in Great Britain, he and his family moved to California when he was a child. His first career dream was to become a commercial airline pilot, according to his biography. However, he launched his career in hospital administration after earning a bachelor's degree in public administration from San Diego State University in 1974. A decade later, he received a master's degree in business administration from McLaren School of Business at the University of San Francisco. He took on the role of chief operating officer at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford in 1995 after spending 10 years working in senior administrative positions at Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center in San Francisco (which later became the California Pacific Medical Center), Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose and Stanford Health Care. He moved up the ladder, becoming CEO in 1997 upon proving himself a strong leader during the failed merger attempt between Stanford Health Care and University of California, San Francisco. Dawes is survived by his wife, Elizabeth "Beth" Dawes of Los Altos; his children, Scott Dawes of San Jose (Brittney), Matthew Dawes of San Francisco and Sara Dawes Hughes of Spokane, Washington, (Caleb); and two great-nephews.