June 15, 2017
Kenneth Jacoppi, Esq., Chairman of the Board for John T. Mather Memorial Hospital, this year marks his 40th anniversary on the Board of Directors, making him the longest-serving board member ever at Mather.
"Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would serve this long," said Mr. Jacoppi, an attorney who lives and practices law in East Setauket. He has been Chairman of Mather Hospital since 2006, following the death of Vincent Bove, who had served on the Board for more than 30 years. He also serves as the Hospital’s designated representative to Long Island Health Network (LIHN), a collaboration of 10 Long Island Hospitals which came together in 1998 to improve and standardize their clinical quality, enhance their operational efficiency, and expand access to care for all Long Islanders.
"This is the most challenging time for healthcare," Jacoppi notes. "The changes in the healthcare industry have led to an increase in hospital affiliations. We, too, are exploring the benefits of a relationship with a larger healthcare system, one in which Mather would continue to provide the excellent patient care and safety for which we are known."
Mr. Jacoppi, who joined the Board of Directors in May of 1977, is a native of Miller Place who recalls attending primary school in a two-room schoolhouse in that community. He graduated from Port Jefferson High School and received an NROTC scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce. After graduating college, he served in the U.S. Navy as a disbursing officer for the 6th Fleet Flagship and was stationed for two years at Villefranche-Sur-Mer on the French Riviera. He secured his law degree from the Emory University Law School in Atlanta, and has been practicing law in East Setauket since the mid-1960s, specializing in wills, estate law, real estate law and corporate and commercial transactions. He was a founding director of Continental Bank in Garden City and served on its Board for more than 12 years.
In 2003, Mr. Jacoppi received the Theodore Roosevelt Award for volunteer service to the Hospital and community. On May 1 of this year he was honored by the Suffolk County Bar Association for practicing law for 50 years in Suffolk County. "Professionals are given wonderful opportunities," he said, "but with that comes an obligation to give back to their community."
Mr. Jacoppi resides in East Setauket with his partner, June Lang. He has three children and five grandchildren.
John T. Mather Memorial Hospital is an accredited 248-bed, non-profit community teaching hospital dedicated to providing a wide spectrum of high quality healthcare services to Suffolk County residents, showing compassion and respect and treating each patient in the manner we would wish for our loved ones. Mather has earned the prestigious Magnet® recognition from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), which recognizes healthcare organizations for quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice. Mather is the only Long Island hospital to earn four stars from The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for patient experience, safety, and timely and effective care measures since July, 2016. Mather also was ranked 19th out of almost 250 hospitals in New York State in U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Hospitals rankings.
Pictured: Mather President Kenneth Roberts (right) presented Kenneth Jacoppi, Esq. with a gift to mark his 40th year on the Boaerd of Directors