That was how he supported his family in 1962 when he came to the United States from his native Cuba. He was 18, with no high school diploma, having dropped out of school in hopes of avoiding military service under Fidel Castro for philosophical and religious reasons.
Even after he married and entered college, he continued to work in wood during the summer. He and his wife of 44 years, Carmen, still have some of the furnishings he made, including their formal dining room table.
During his 41-year hiatus from cabinetwork, Perez pursued a career in health care. He worked his way through Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Md., as a private-duty nurse. After earning a bachelor’s degree in business, he transferred to George Washington University in pursuit of a master’s degree in health care administration.
He became a U.S. citizen in 1973.
For the past 16 years, he has led Kettering Medical Center and served as head of the growing Kettering Health Network, a position that paid more than $1 million in 2008.
During that time, he involved himself not only in the larger hospital community but in a variety of causes ranging from the arts to economic development.
“Mrs. (Virginia) Kettering instilled in me the concept of community and the value of Dayton,” Perez said. “That’s why Carmen and I, we’re going to retire here.”
Perceptions of a “pink Cadillac”
When Perez became the head of Kettering Medical Center in the spring of 1994, he took over a nonprofit system that was shedding jobs and staring at a potential $30 million loss for the year.
In addition to righting the ship, Perez also was charged with making Kettering Medical Center a more engaged corporate citizen.
“One of my board members used to say Kettering Medical Center was the pink Cadillac on Southern Boulevard,” Perez said. “That’s what it was. Today, it’s considered an integral part of the fiber of the community.”
Candice Christenson served on the search committee that picked Perez to lead the hospital.
“We were looking for someone who could help heal that perception,” said Christenson, who also serves on the Kettering Adventist Healthcare board, which will pick Perez’s successor.
Perez also influenced the culture of Kettering Medical Center, which is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Perez, who was raised Roman Catholic but became a Seventh-day Adventist as a teenager, relaxed the hospital’s limits on meat in the cafeteria, for example.
“My mother taught me that if you respect others’ values and choices, they will embrace and accept yours,” Perez said.
“Eternally positive”
When Perez learned in September 2008 that a fire had heavily damaged Spring Valley Academy, a K-12 Seventh-day Adventist school in Washington Twp., he and his wife cut short their vacation in Great Britain to help get the school back on its feet.
Perez, the board’s chair, also helped to make the school stronger financially, academically and spiritually, said Jeff Bovee, principal of the 283-student school.
“Without Frank and his leadership, we wouldn’t have the strong school that we have today,” Bovee said.
Bryan Bucklew of the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association called Perez a “change agent for the better.”
“He placed Kettering on the map as a community leader,” he said.
Development officials credited Perez with helping to bring medical missions from Texas to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base during the Base Closure and Realignment Commission process in 2005.
Observers say Perez’s personality helps make things happen.
“He is eternally positive, and not in a naive way,” Christenson said. “He’s positive in a productive way.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or bsutherly@DaytonDailyNews.com.
About the Author