Retiring St. Margaret Foundation president fundraised $19 million for projects

Mary Lee Gannon finds peace in gardening.

As president of the nonprofit St. Margaret Foundation, Gannon spearheaded a $364,000 fundraising campaign to add a colorful plot of perennials, a fountain, rocking chairs and a swing on the campus of UPMC St. Margaret near Aspinwall.

“I was comforted to know we were offering our patients and families a place of solace away from the bedside,” said Gannon, of O’Hara. “When I leave at night and see people swinging, I say to myself, ‘mission accomplished.’ ”

It’s not the only mission she’s completed to help realize the foundation’s goal of “Filling the Gaps with Hope.”

As she prepares to step down after 16 years as president, Gannon looked back at a tenure that brought in $19 million for lead projects that included:

• $3.4 million for a new home for the New Kensington Family Health Center
• $2.5 million for the Van Horn Pavilion at the hospital
• $1 million for a total remodel of the Lawrenceville Family Health Center
• $2.7 million for a patient crisis care endowment

“When I came here, I remember feeling honored to have the support of a board of directors that was willing to take on impactful projects,” Gannon said. “Together, we did things most people said we could not accomplish. That just inspired us.”

Particularly dear to Gannon is the care endowment because it ensures, in coming decades, that patients in crisis will have a place to turn for medicine, medical devices and other services that fall through the cracks of insurance coverage. That will happen no matter what competing priorities emerge, she said.

It is the most popular donor initiative the foundation has created.

Dr. Edward J. Donnelly III, foundation board secretary and chairperson of The Community Investment committee, said Gannon has tackled challenges along the way with thoughtful collaboration.

“She stepped into her role in 2009 in the midst of the Great Recession, a time of extreme challenge for all nonprofits and foundations,” Donnelly said.

Gannon helped the board to clarify its mission to focus on patient access, education and experience, “firmly rooting the needs of our patients and employees as our grant-making priorities,” he said.

As she leaves the hospital campus along Delafield Avenue near Aspinwall, Gannon said she can rest easy with the patient crisis care endowment sitting at $2.7 million.

“I know that under-resourced patients will always have a resource to help fill in the gaps,” she said.

Brigid Dykstra, who serves as the foundation’s director of partnership giving and office systems, will step into the position of president. Gannon plans to retire at the end of the year.

Prior to her role at the foundation, Gannon served as president of Forbes Health Foundation, where she led campaigns for their first Open Heart Center, a new Emergency Department, Women’s and Infant Care Center and Forbes Hospice. She also previously worked as the executive director of Ohio Valley Hospital Foundation.

“When I first came here, I was struck by the dedication of the board of directors and their faith in me,” Gannon said. “We took on gutsy projects and they stood behind me every step of the way, particularly Neil Van Horn and the Very Reverend George L.W. Werner, who both helped found the hospital’s location in 1980. They were like second fathers to me. I’ll never forget the feeling of having their confidence.”

Other key initiatives during her tenure include expanding the Free Rides Shuttle from one to four vehicles, growing the Bed Fund for the under-resourced, lobbying for a psychiatrist and social worker for the Family Health Centers, instituting a patient food pantry and clothes closet, Narcan distribution, free books for children and holiday gifts for patients.

Foundation Chairman Seth Silverman said Gannon has been motivated by patient dignity.

“Under her stewardship, the foundation has expanded its impact dramatically – bridging critical gaps in care, providing life-changing support to thousands of patients and ensuring that no one falls through the cracks during their most vulnerable moments,” Silverman said.

For her work, Gannon has been awarded the Marquis Who’s Who Distinction for Executive Coaching and Corporate Leadership, the Honorary Woman of Courage Award by Pennsylvania Women Work and the Lifetime Achievement Award by Pittsburgh Society of Association Executives, among others.

She looks forward to retirement to spend time with her family, travel, paint, garden, volunteer at church and podcast.

“Thank you, St. Margaret,” Gannon said. “I live less than a mile away and will smile every time I pass by, knowing the privilege I had to work with you to improve lives. They say your work should make the world a better place. I don’t see this next chapter as retirement. I see it as a graduation to new ways to do that.”