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Colleagues remember CEO Kent Clapp, 62, after deadly plane crash
By Cheryl Powell
Beacon Journal medical writer
Published on Saturday, Dec 06, 2008
Kent W. Clapp, 62, was remembered Friday as ''an icon'' of health care in Northeast Ohio.
Clapp, chief executive of Medical Mutual of Ohio health insurance, was killed Wednesday in an airplane crash in Puerto Rico.
Michael Rutherford, chief financial officer of Summa Health System, said he knew Clapp for about 10 years and ''always had fair dealings with him and his staff.''
Rutherford said Clapp ''positioned Medical Mutual to assist in the economic development and other needs of the community that it served.''
''I thought he was an icon of the health-care scene in northern Ohio,'' Rutherford said. ''I thought he had a very good vision and sight as the head of the area's largest insurance company.''
Medical Mutual is among the largest payers for patients at Summa Health System, Summit County's largest employer.
Also killed in Wednesday's crash was Clapp's fiancee, Tracy Turner, and the pilot of the plane they chartered. The twin-engine Rockwell International
690B plane crashed in dense fog into a mountain in the El Yunque rain forest about 13 miles east of San Juan.
Medical Mutual learned of the deaths late Thursday, company spokesman Ed Byers said.
''It's really difficult to put into words the loss that we're feeling right now,'' he said Friday. ''Our entire Medical Mutual family is in a state of mourning.''
Clapp and Turner were vacationing and had missed a Continental Airlines flight from the British Virgin Islands to San Juan, Byers said. The couple from Avon Lake in suburban Cleveland chartered the small plane in an effort to make a connecting flight from San Juan to Newark, N.J. From there the two were to fly back to Cleveland.
Puerto Rican officials identified the pilot as Ken Webster, owner of Websta's Aviation Services Inc. in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The bodies of Clapp and Turner had not yet been identified Friday morning, but the owner of the plane said they were the only passengers on board, Byers said.
The investigation into the crash is being led by Todd Gunther of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, who was studying the charred wreckage, the agency said.
Cleveland-based Medical Mutual was formerly part of the Blue Cross system and has about 2,800 employees. Clapp, a Vietnam veteran, had been with the company since 1976 and was named president in 1992 and chairman and chief executive in 1997.
He led the company out of a difficult time and made it successful, winning admiration outside Medical Mutual as well as inside, Byers said.
A dozen years ago, it seemed questionable whether the Cleveland-based insurer would survive, let alone expand.
In 1996, the Blue Cross & Blue Shield Association stripped the company of its affiliation, a move that some industry watchers predicted would cripple the insurer.
At the time, the company previously known as Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Ohio was trying to recover from a failed merger with the former Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. and subsequent financial problems that left the insurer under state supervision.
''He had his work cut out for him and did an absolutely extraordinary job,'' said Alan Bleyer, president and chief executive of Akron General Health System.
Today, Medical Mutual is the second-largest insurer in the state, with about 1.6 million enrollees.
''The employees who worked for Kent didn't just like him, they adored him,'' Byers said.
In a prepared statement on behalf of Akron Children's Hospital, Chief Financial Officer Dennis Jancsy said the hospital leadership was ''shocked and terribly saddened by the news of Kent Clapp's tragic death.''
''We have known Kent for many years, and we express our deepest condolences to his family and his many friends,'' Jancsy said. ''Kent led Medical Mutual with integrity and deep concern for its employees and subscribers. Medical Mutual and Northeast Ohio have lost a great community leader.''
Bleyer also praised Clapp for his ''extraordinary leadership'' in the Northeast Ohio health-care industry.
''It's a sad ending to a very productive executive,'' Bleyer said. ''I was very saddened to hear of his passing.''
In recent years, Bleyer said, Clapp took a leadership role in promoting health and wellness initiatives and was willing to join hospitals on those ventures. ''He certainly was a close partner of Akron General,'' Bleyer said.
In a prepared statement, Ohio Department of Insurance Director Mary Jo Hudson also expressed her condolences.
''I am deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Medical Mutual of Ohio Chairman, President and CEO Kent Clapp,'' she said. ''I send my sincere heartfelt condolences to the Clapp family, Medical Mutual family and many other people also affected by his passing as they grieve during this difficult time.''
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Kent W. Clapp, 62, was remembered Friday as ''an icon'' of health care in Northeast Ohio.
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