Thomas W. Macvaugh

Thomas W. MacVaugh of Lancaster, PA ended the enjoyment of this life on Friday, January 27, 2023.  Born in Philadelphia, he was raised in Haddonfield, New Jersey and graduated from Haddonfield Memorial High School in 1965.  He then earned his B.S.B.E from Lehigh University, and returned to Philadelphia to begin his career.

After a brief career in retail buying, a chance conversation led him to begin his highly successful career in hospital and healthcare supply chain leadership.  He began in 1971 as a buyer then moved to become Director of Purchasing for hospitals in South Jersey and was recruited to go into medical sales in Central PA. He and his young family relocated to Lancaster, PA in 1978 and after a couple of years in medical and implants sales covering dozens of hospitals from throughout central PA, he was recruited to join Lancaster General Hospital as Director of Purchasing where he served for the next 5 years.

During this period, Tom became active in Lancaster where he graduated from the second class of Leadership Lancaster and subsequently was selected to serve on the Board of Directors of such organizations as The Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County, the Executive Council of Lancaster/Lebanon Council of Boy Scouts of America, and was named a Board Member of Leadership Lancaster program.  Tom was also responsible for the formation of the Alumni Association of Leadership Lancaster and was first editor of their newsletter designed to promote the alumni of the program with the not-for-profit organizations throughout the county.   He was also active in local government and was selected at the first Commissioner for the Hempfield Area Recreation Commission (for West Hempfield Twp.) and later served on both Zoning Hearing Board and Planning Commissions (for East Hempfield Twp.)

Tom also started his prolific writing ventures during this period when he served as a correspondent for Lancaster News Papers.  Over the next few years Tom routinely had dozens of feature articles, photos and spot news stories published under his By-Line for the Intelligencer Journal, Sunday News and the Lancaster New Era – EXTRA editions.

He was contacted by the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania/HAPSCO Group to help lead the cooperative contracting for medical supplies and equipment for all of the hospitals within central PA.  This role was later expanded to include the hospitals in the Philadelphia and throughout southeastern PA where he served for the next five years.  This period also saw Tom get engaged in the regional and national scene for hospital group purchasing, where he served in various national leadership roles and was honored with the highest award for contributions to the industry by the national organization.  He was also one of the original members of the Board of Directors, after the founding of the Health Industry Group Purchasing Association (HIGPA) the national trade association for cooperative group purchasing based in Washington, DC.  During this period Tom also earned his Master Science, Healthcare Administration, Cum Laude, from Saint Joseph’s University (Philadelphia, PA)

As the family continued to grow, Tom’s career expanded again and he became involved in the consulting / out-sourced management services for supply chain services.  He ultimately led three national programs for McFaul&Lyons Group (Johnson & Johnson Healthcare), Marriott Healthcare / Sodexho, and Premier Purchasing Partners, LLP.  During those engagements he traveled the US and Canadian healthcare systems extensively and worked with many of the nationally/internationally recognized healthcare systems.  He also served as Northeastern US Regional Supply Chain Officer for Ascension Health and Asst. VP Support Services, Lourdes Hospital (Binghamton, NY), Vice President of The Healthcare Consortium/South Florida Hospital Association (Miami Lakes, FL) and as V.P. Supply Chain, Temple Health (Philadelphia, PA).  Tom also was a frequent speaker on a wide array of management topics at dozens of regional and national healthcare management conferences and he continued his writing and was published dozens of times in leading healthcare journals.

In the early 2000s Tom formed his own firm, and for the next twenty years focused on his consulting and outsourcing business clients primarily in the northeastern US market serving mostly large academic medical centers and universities including University of PA/Lancaster General Johns Hopkins/Anne Arundel Health, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health/SW Vermont Health and Thomas Jefferson University/Jefferson Health.  He retired for the third time in 2022 and closed his firm.

Tom is survived by the love of his life, Janice (nee Heggan), and his four children – Megan (partner of Chance Frank), Becky (wife of Michael Souhrada), Amanda (wife of Joel Wamsley), and James and his wife Danielle. Tom is survived by his sister, Deborah Enders. In addition, he is survived by nine “Grand Wee Ones” – Morgan, Simon, Ryan, Carter, Sarah, Julia, Andrew, Aiden and Lydia, and two God Sons Richard and Scott Smullen.

Services will be private and held in New Jersey and Maine.  In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Hospice and Community Care 685 Good Drive, P.O. Box 4125.