C Duane Dauner

Former Calif. Hospital Association CEO dies in car crash. C. Duane Dauner died Monday July 13 2020 in a car crash near his home in Palm Desert, Calif. Dauner, 80, was president and CEO of the California Hospital Association from 1985 until his retirement in 2017. He held bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Wichita State University and was an assistant professor at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, prior to beginning his hospital association career at the Kansas Hospital Association in 1966. In 1975, he became president/CEO of the Missouri Hospital Association. Property records indicate that Dauner owned a home in Bighorn Golf Club, which is not far from the site of Monday's crash.