Former AHA Chair and Distinguished Service Award recipient Sister Mary Roch Rocklage passed away yesterday. She was 87.  
  
Rocklage was considered the “modern day foundress” of the Mercy health care system, serving the ministry for 65 years, including as Mercy’s first president and CEO and later its board chair. She served on the AHA board, executive committee, and committee on nominations, and as AHA’s board chair in 2002. She also was a member of AHA’s Regional Policy Board 6, as well as the governing council for the Section for Health Care Systems.  
  
In addition to AHA’s Distinguished Service Award, which she received in 2006, Rocklage was the recipient of the Missouri Hospital Association Career Achievement Award and the Catholic Health Association Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2011, she was inducted into Modern Healthcare’s Healthcare Hall of Fame.  
  
See the Mercy obituary for more information. In addition, see a video and transcript of an interview with Rocklage from AHA’s Oral History Collection.

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