Benjamin Rountree

Benjamin H. "Ben" Rountree, 59, of Mansfield, died January 7, 2008 at his home. Dean of Technology and Workforce Development at North Central State College, he died of an apparent heart attack at his home Monday night while watching The Ohio State University championship football game. A native of Montgomery, AL, Dr. Rountree was instrumental to direct the "Regional Innovation Grant" for the Workforce Investment Board developing a strategic plan with manufacture, health, and information technology company executives. Working alongside economic specialists his desire was to raise the education attainment level of the workforce thereby giving our local economy an opportunity to grow. He created an environment for research, data analysis, and improvement in all elements of instruction, which included a strategic plan to expand high quality online distance learning offerings. Ben was involved in developing agreements with other colleges to foster collaborative programming and promote faculty exchanges of creative ideas. His leadership fostered higher levels of achievement, promoted excellence, and focused on team development. Dr. Rountree was a member of Grace Episcopal Church in Mansfield, the current Leadership Unlimited class and the Mansfield Rotary Club. He was an avid golfer and motorcyclist and loved college football. He earned a doctorate of public administration in health policy and administration in 1982 from The University of Georgia, Athens, GA; a master's degree in public administration, health policy and administration in 1974 from Auburn University, Montgomery, AL; and a bachelor of arts degree in political science and public administration in 1971 from The American University in Washington, D.C. Dr. Rountree's career included over 30 years in health care management, teaching and management consulting. His expertise was in information systems strategy and implementation, productivity and performance measurement, strategic planning, management development; marketing and organization analysis, design and implementation. Before moving to Mansfield he had been an associate professor in the School of Health Sciences at Clayton College and State University in Morrow, GA. There, he taught a number of health care management courses, including human resources management, information technology, approaches to planned change and statistics. He also had developed and secured support for three research projects in health care organizations. His career also included many years as a consultant, based in Cleveland and in Georgia, Texas and California. He also had worked for IBM in Houston; Sutter Health in northern California; HayGroup, Inc. in Atlanta; the University of Missouri; the University of Georgia and as a hospital administrator in Memphis and Washington, D.C. Early in his career he worked as a research assistant to the domestic advisor to the President in the White House Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention; as a staff assistant for U.S. Senator James B. Allen in Washington, D.C., in 1969; and as a research assistant to Ralph Nader for the Public Interest Research Group in Washington, D.C., in 1968.

He has an extensive list of published work, papers and presentations.

Dr. Rountree is survived by his wife of 18 years, Sydney Kahler Rountree; a daughter and son-in-law, Meredith and Timothy Mergler; two grandchildren, Christian and Kyleigh Mergler; two brothers, Robert of Maryville, TN, and David of Montgomery, AL; and two brothers-in-law, Scott Kahler of Portland, OR, and Stacy Kahler of Aberdeen, WA.

Calling hours will be Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church, 41 N. Bowman St., Mansfield, where a memorial service will follow at 1 p.m. Mrs. Rountree knows that her husband would prefer he be remembered through memorial contributions to NCSC instead of through gifts of flowers. To make a contribution to the Technology and Workforce Development program at NCSC, for which Dr. Rountree provided leadership, contributions may be made by mailing to North Central State College Foundation, P.O. Box 698, Mansfield, OH 44901 or Wappner Funeral Directors, 98 S. Diamond St., Mansfield, OH 44902, or in person at the church.