Robert Rabideau; Served 22 Years As Overlake Hospital Administrator
When fledgling Snoqualmie Valley Hospital in Snoqualmie needed a shot in the arm, hospital owners turned to veteran administrator Robert Rabideau.
A couple years later, when the Washington Hospital Liability Insurance Fund needed an interim manager, Rabideau was recruited out of retirement.
Rabideau, a longtime Eastside resident, had established a solid track record in the health-care industry as the first chief administrator at Overlake Hospital, the Eastside's first major hospital.
After more than 38 years in the health-care business, Rabideau's battle with cancer led to his final retirement late last year.
He died Monday at the age of 68. A Mass of Christian Burial was to be today at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Bellevue with burial in Washington Memorial Cemetery.
``Bob has a special place in the growing up of Bellevue. He was very well-known in the Bellevue community,'' said Nancy Rising, a former Bellevue City Council member.
Rabideau was at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue for 23 years, all but one year as chief administrator.
He has been credited with guiding Overlake's growth from a 56-bed hospital in 1959 to a 218-bed medical center. He resigned from the hospital during a major executive-staff reorganization.
He was recruited by the Health and Hospital Services Corp. of Bellevue in January 1984 to take over as administrator at Snoqualmie Valley Hospital, which had experienced a tough financial period since opening in 1983.
``When we acquired the hospital (in 1984) we were looking for an experienced, seasoned hospital administrator,'' said Herman Goeppele, vice president for finance at Health and Hospital Services Corp.
``(Rabideau) was a very people-oriented person; very concerned about others,'' Goeppele said. Rabideau remained at Snoqualmie Valley for nearly three years, then retired.
However, he was appointed by the board of directors of the Washington Hospital Liability Insurance Fund as interim manager of the fund in 1988 and served for several months. The fund provides liability insurance for 53 hospitals in the state.
``He was a very warm person. He had excellent skills in working with people, and that included individuals at the hospital as well as people in the community,'' said Jean Henderson of the Washington State Hospital Association.
``He really believed in service above self,'' said Rabideau's wife, Marilyn.
Rabideau represented the Washington State Hospital Association as delegate to the American Hospital Association in 1972, and was a Washington-Alaska regent for the American College of Hospital Administrators.
He was elected a fellow of the American College of Hospital Administrators in 1974 and served that year as a vice president of the Seattle Area Hospital Council.
He had served as secretary and a trustee of the Overlake Foundation, affiliated with Overlake Hospital.
He was a past chairman of the Washington State Hospital Association, the membership organization that represents all hospitals in the state.
``He was a leading health-care administrator, known throughout the state,'' said Don Steffes, president and chief executive officer of the Washington Hospital Insurance Fund.
Rabideau also was active with the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce and Bellevue Rotary.
Born in Spokane, Rabideau earned degrees in public health and zoology at the University of Washington, and a master's degree in hospital administration at the University of California at Berkeley.
He was a Public Health Service health services officer from 1951 to 1956, assigned to missions in Iran and Lebanon.
Besides his wife, he is survived by a son, Robert Jr., Bellevue; three daughters, Vesla-Annette Rabideau, Kirkland, Shirene Rabideau, Zihuatanejo, Mexico, and Jana Chovanak, Seattle; two stepdaughters, Kim Hayes, Redmond, and Connie Hayes, Renton, and a sister, Janet Wilcox, Seattle.
Remembrances are suggested to Evergreen Hospice, Kirkland.