John R. (Jack) Hoover, April 22, 1929 to May 22, 2018

Abstract

John R. “Jack” Hoover was a remarkable man who was in charge of the marketing team for medical products at W. L. Gore beginning in 1975. Over the years, he developed close personal and professional relationships with many of the leading vascular surgeons in the United States and around the world. By leading W. L. Gore to support—without asking anything in return —the clinical and research activities of vascular surgeons, he managed to transform the relationship between vascular surgery and industry into one of close partnership. This change became increasingly beneficial to all concerned, including patients, as vascular treatments moved into the endovascular era. Jack was also able to instill in all his W. L. Gore representative colleagues a genuine “we are here to help you and your patients” attitude that has persisted even after his retirement. Because of his leadership in establishing the benefits of Industry-Doctor relationships as well as his many other unique interpersonal skills, Jack Hoover will be sorely missed and long remembered for helping to negate the current unwise trend to view such relationships as intrinsically bad for patients and society.—Dr Frank J. Veith, NYU-Langone Medical Center and The Cleveland Clinic, June 2018 Jack Hoover, a founder of the W. L. Gore Medical Division and commercial developer of the Gore-Tex Vascular Graft, died on May 22, 2018, in Charleston, South Carolina, at the age of 89. Jack was born on April 22, 1929, in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He was an outstanding high-school track athlete and the western Pennsylvania half-mile champion. He graduated from Penn State University in 1951 with a BS in Chemistry. Jack met his future wife, Beverly Lessard, at Penn State, and they married on Valentine's Day in 1953. While in college, he did an internship with E.R. Squib, studying bacteriology, and after graduation, he joined Squibb in sales. After serving in the Army for 2 years, he held several positions with American Cyanamid; he twice won the Cyanamid Golden Oval Award in sales. He left American Cyanamid in 1970 to join Imperial Chemical Industries, where he first met Bill Gore. Jack founded the Gore Medical Products Division in 1975 after becoming part of a team that solved a problem with PTFE vascular graft aneurysms. Gore brought the GORE-TEX graft to the market in 1975, first exhibiting it in Scotland at the International Cardiovascular Society meeting. In August 1975, Roger Gregory and Jock Wheeler of the Norfolk Surgical Group needed an alternative to a vein for a femoral-popliteal bypass, and Jack personally delivered his first order to Norfolk General Hospital. Jack built a sales organization at Gore that stressed service, honesty, and loyalty to both the customer and the company. He embraced education and was a visionary philanthropist. He supported numerous vascular societies, sponsored the annual Northwestern Vascular Symposium and Handbook, and initiated many Gore-sponsored educational programs of the Society for Vascular Surgery, including the annual E.J. Wylie Traveling Fellowship, that he established together with Don Lass, following a proposal by John Bergan and James Yao. Peter Gloviczki was the first E.J. Wylie Traveling Fellow in 1987, and subsequently 30 outstanding vascular surgeons were awarded the fellowship. Throughout the years, Jack and W. L. Gore have been important supporters of the Journal of Vascular Surgery. Jack retired in 1992 but stayed active and continued to attend surgical meetings and conferences around the world. He developed countless personal relationships, and he was unique in having many vascular surgeons as friends. Soon after retirement, Jack received the Alumni Fellow Award from Penn State Altoona in 2002, which is the most prestigious award given by the Alumni Association. He also established the John R. Hoover scholarship at Penn State Altoona in 2001, which supports undergraduate students who are majoring in one of the sciences. In “retirement,” Jack served on the Board of Directors for W. L. Gore, Diemolding Corporation, the Health Industry Medical Association (now known as the Advanced Medical Technology Association), Roper St. Francis Foundation, and Sea Island Habitat for Humanity. He was a fan of tennis, skiing, swimming, and “convertibles.” Jack is survived by his wife, Beverly; son, John; daughter, Liza; and grandchildren, Carol, Amanda, Tierney, and John.