Mike Samis

Mike Samis, a private investor and philanthropist who played a key role in the creation of OU Medicine Inc., died Thursday following a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. He was 67 years old. Samis led the negotiation to acquire Hospital Association of America's interest in the former OU Medical System. The transaction, completed Feb. 1, 2018, secured Oklahoma's flagship academic medical center and Oklahoma's only freestanding children's hospital along with a community hospital and other healthcare services. He served as a director of BancFirst, Sovereign Asset Management, an investment vehicle of the Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Dean McGee Eye Institute, and the Stephenson Cancer Center Advisory Council. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma and Southern Methodist University, he joined Macklanburg-Duncan Co., M-D, a manufacturer of home improvement products, in 1982. He served as president and CEO from 1990-2000, when the company was sold to General Electric. He was chairman of MD Building Products, a spinoff of M-D, until 2007. Samis, of Oklahoma City, is survived by his wife Karen, daughters Carter Fellers and Katharine Regens and and five grandchildren.