Fairview Park CEO Don Avery passes away after surgery

Fairview Park Hospital CEO/President Don Avery passed away Thursday during surgery at an out-of-town hospital. 

The hospital released an announcement late Thursday saying that staff was heartbroken to report that Avery had passed away unexpectedly. 

“For 17 years, Don led our hospital with passion and a personality that was bigger than life. The Fairview Park Hospital team was his family. Dublin was his home. Please pray for his family, Fairview family and community of friends. We will be celebrating his life and impact in the very near future,” the hospital said in the statement. 

On a Facebook post, the hospital also stated that while the staff mourns Avery’s loss, they “look upward knowing he is resting where his heart longed to be, with his Savior and with his (daughter) Meredith.

“He is now flying higher than any plane could ever help him soar. While we miss him and cry countless tears, we look forward to the day we will see him again. Until then, we will carry on his mission in loving people and leaving people better than you found them.” 

The post ended with Avery’s favorite verse and life mission: “Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing,” from Thessalonians 5:11.

In addition to his service at the hospital, Avery was a leader in the community, active in various organizations such as the ABC Women’s Clinic. He had been the emcee at events such as the Leprechaun Contest during the Saint Patrick’s Festival and starred as the mayor in the Dublin Community Theatre’s production of “The Music Man” last summer and returned to the stage during Theatre Dublin’s 20th production of “The Nutcracker.”  

In late December, Avery announced that he planned to retire this July after 17 years with the Dublin hospital. He had called his retirement “perhaps the most difficult decision I have ever had to make, yet in some ways the easiest.”

“I have decided to step down from the most amazing job anyone could ever hope to have, being the leader of a group of people that have become my family – my ‘Fairview Family.’ Those who work here today, as well as those who worked here over the past 17 years, will always be a part of my heart, my life and, yes, my family,” he said.