Mary Labyak, a pioneer of the U.S. hospice movement, died Saturday from lymphoma, according to a spokesman for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.
Labyak, 63, started as a volunteer at a Florida hospice organization—which would later become Suncoast Hospice—in 1977 and became program director there in 1980. She was named president and executive director in 1983, and the title of CEO was added later. At the time of her death, she was under the care of her Suncoast colleagues.
Labyak served as chairwoman of the National Hospice Foundation. The foundation honored her last year with its Healthcare Architect Award.
“Mary was one of the most articulate individuals I've worked with who could identify problems and what the obstacles were,” J. Donald Schumacher, president and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Association, told Modern Healthcare. Schumacher said Labyak's work in the late 1970s and early 1980s included advocating for a Medicare hospice benefit, which was established in 1982.
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