The man’s office is emptying item by item, the desktop finally emerging from its clutter. Stacks of boxes lean against one wall, stuffed with the plaques and files that mark a career.
Family photos of the wife and kids and grandkids still decorate the room. They’ll come down last.
Dennis “Denny” O’Malley is leaving Craig Hospital in Englewood. Today is his last day.
He’s served 34 years as president of what is hailed as the nation’s finest treatment center for traumatic brain and spinal-cord injuries.
Shatter your back in a car wreck or fall head-first from a roof, Craig is where you want to go and rebuild your life.
On O’Malley’s watch, hospital staff grew more than threefold. Its reputation soared and it resisted HMO takeovers during the “urge-to-merge” 1980s.
So why leave now?
“I just heard a voice that said it was time to step aside,” O’Malley said Tuesday, taking a break from packing and answering calls from well-wishers. “I love this job, but maybe I don’t have quite as much to give as I once did.”
Quite a journey for someone enshrined in the Nebraska Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. (Seriously. Teen band called the Chevrons. Who knew?)
At 59, O’Malley has thick white hair and the trim build of an athlete. He runs, bikes and hikes, and looks forward to more of those pursuits in what he refuses to even call semi-retirement. “The pace will be a little slower, but I’ll still have a full plate,” he said.
O’Malley became Craig’s president in 1974, arriving from Swedish Medical Center. He was 25 years old. If you want some historical perspective, he took the reins when the Watergate scandal was peaking and the Ford Pinto still seemed like a smart buy.
“It was terrifying,” he said of his decision to take the job. “My first instinct was not to take it because I was in way over my head. But I felt like I’d kick myself the rest of my life if I didn’t.”
Still, he said, he spent the first two years “scared to death by the enormity” of it.
“Denny’s been exemplary and his tenure almost unheard of,” said Dr. Daniel Lammertse, Craig’s medical director of research. “A lot of people visit Craig expecting it to be a downer, but they’re struck by the spirit of the patients. That’s due largely to Denny.”
So what is the man’s legacy?
“I think I leave an institution that has worked,” O’Malley said. “It’s achieved what it set out to do — help disabled people recover and go on. It’s been an amazing and joyous ride for me.”
Craig admits about 700 patients a year, housing 80 at any one time. It handles about 2,000 outpatients annually.
That’s a lot of human anguish, but O’Malley made a point of mingling with patients. He visited, accompanied them on rehab outings — a CEO with a face and heart.
“I loved being a hands-on guy,” he said. “It wasn’t about appearances. It’s what made it fun for me.”
His successor is Mike Fordyce, who comes to the job from the Denver- based Catholic Health Initiatives.
Now O’Malley heads to the Tech Center, where he’ll work with the Craig Hospital Foundation. “I’ll have a title but I don’t know what,” he said with a laugh. “I’m thinking ‘has-been.’ ”
He paused. “This is truly a special institution. It was special when I got here and will be special when I leave.”
Well said. I just hope O’Malley knows how much more special he made Craig.
William Porter’s column runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 303-954-1977 or wporter@denverpost.com.
