In Memoriam: Former President and CEO Tom Robertson

Tom Robertson, who retired as president and CEO of Carilion Health System in 2001 after 15 years at the helm, died on Friday, March 7. He was 81.

During his tenure leading our organization, he oversaw considerable growth, including turning a group of hospitals into a regional system known as Carilion Health System, the precursor to Carilion Clinic. He also established the Carilion Biomedical Institute, which was our first attempt at a public-private partnership with Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia. That experience helped form the foundation of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC.

Tom was born in Roanoke and grew up in the Williamson Road area. He attended National Business College and began working as a certified public accountant at the local firm of Anderson and Reed, where he was assigned to Roanoke-area hospital clients. He joined Roanoke Memorial Hospital in 1969.

Over the years, he became one of the Roanoke Valley’s most well-regarded leaders. Among his long list of accomplishments was leading the fundraising effort to renovate the Hotel Roanoke and construct its conference center in 1995.

In 2022, Tom and his wife Sue donated $250,000 to the Carilion Clinic Foundation to establish The Charles Crockett Endowed Fund for Hematology Oncology, which will support a fellowship focused on the treatment of blood-related cancers, including Hodgkin’s disease and leukemia. It will be our first cancer-related graduate-level training program.

In 2000, the year before he retired, The Roanoke Times wrote a feature on Tom. This passage offered a glimpse of his character:

“What struck me most about the people I met in health care is that they obviously don’t do what they do for the financial rewards,” Robertson said. “They do it because they genuinely want to help the patients.”

Don Lorton, Carilion’s executive vice president, said that what many people don’t realize about Robertson is his genuine concern for his employees.

“As a nonprofit company, none of us own stock in Carilion,” Lorton said. “But Robertson is as committed to Carilion as any CEO of a company who owned stock in it would be. I think he is even more committed, especially to the employees who work for him.”

A memorial service for Tom is being planned in Roanoke this summer. Tom is survived by his wife Sue.