Board Chair of The Nathaniel Witherell Resigns

*Editor’s note: This story was first published Jan. 26. Here it is again, in case you missed it.

David Ormsby, who has served as chair of the board of directors of The Nathaniel Witherell short-term rehabilitation and skilled nursing facility, has resigned after 10 years of leading the board of the town-owned facility.

Ormsby, a board member since 2004, announced his resignation from the board at a regular meeting of the board on Monday evening. The board elected member Larry Simon to succeed Ormsby.

Ormsby said in a statement, “Change is vital to the growth of every institution. Nathaniel Witherell is no exception. With the completion of Project Renew, the time seems right for new leadership. The physical plant is in excellent operational condition. I believe our staff, headed by Allen Brown, our Executive Director, and Lynn Bausch, our Director of Nursing, leads the finest long-term care facility in the State.”

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Ormsby also said, “Nathaniel Witherell has enjoyed a coveted Medicare five-star rating for every year that rating system has existed. I have been blessed with a fully engaged Board of Directors, which deserves equal credit for our accomplishments at Nathaniel Witherell during the last 10 years. I have also enjoyed the full support of First Selectman Peter Tesei, as well as the Town’s Board of Estimate & Taxation and its Representative Town Meeting.”

Under Ormsby’s leadership, the Friends of The Nathaniel Witherell organized and supported Project Renew, the facility’s first capital campaign in its 111-year history that financed infrastructure and environmental improvements at the Parsonage Road campus that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2010.

Project Renew increased the number of private rooms from 26 to 64, eliminated 10 four-bedded rooms, and remodeled and redecorated 86 resident rooms, public spaces, modernized three existing elevators and added a fourth, and installed a new emergency generator.

Ormsby also said, “For me personally, it has been a challenging but immensely satisfying experience. I leave the Nathaniel Witherell and its Board in excellent hands.”

Simon, who served five terms on the town’s Board of Estimate and Taxation, was reappointed to a second term on the Witherell board in December. Previously, he has served on the boards of Greenwich Land Trust, United Way of Greenwich, the Bruce Museum, and the League of Women Voters. Simon was a co-founder and officer of Health Management Systems, a major coordinator of benefits for Medicare and Medicaid programs in more than 40 states, from 1974 until his retirement in 1997.

Contributed photos. From left, David Ormsby and Larry Simon.