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2011 Lifetime Achievement honors were awarded to Meri and
Dr. Sol Barer of Mendham, Eleanor McGlaughlin of Short Hills, Dr. Charles Dooley of Mountainside, Louise Gili of Millburn, and Dr. Luther Clark, who accepted the award on behalf of Merck. |
In recognition of their noteworthy contributions to Overlook Medical Center in the areas of community, medical, volunteer and corporate service, the Overlook Foundation awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards to Dr. Sol and Meri Barer of Mendham; Charles E. Dooley, M.D. of Mountainside; Louise Gili of Millburn; Eleanor McGlaughlin of Short Hills; and Merck. Elizabeth Compton, chairman of the Overlook Foundation, presented the awards at its Ninth Annual Chairman’s Dinner, May 12, at Baltusrol Golf Club.
“The nationally respected healing culture that characterizes Overlook is the direct result of the collaboration of our many communities – civic, medical, volunteer and corporate,” observed Ms. Compton. “We are proud to honor outstanding representatives of each of these communities with Lifetime Achievement Awards.”
Dr. Sol and Meri Barer – the Community Service Award honorees – have received accolades from numerous organizations for their dedication to improving the health and wellbeing of countless children in New Jersey communities and in others around the world. In 2006, the Barers helped brighten the spirits of Overlook’s youngest patients by donating a giant cuckoo clock and a six-foot-tall stringless harp to the medical center’s pediatric department. The following year, the Barers made it possible to establish The Sol and Meri Barer Pediatric Unit of the Goryeb Children’s Center at Overlook. Their generous gift also helped fund a Pediatric Subspecialty Unit, housing 11 pediatric specialties, on the second floor of Overlook’s Medical Arts Center II.
Dr. Barer, who retired last year as chief executive officer of Celgene, the biotechnology company he founded decades ago, is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including being the first recipient of an annual BioNJ award named in his honor. This year, Dr. Barer was named Chair of BioNJ and he is a member of the Boards of public and private companies, patient advocacy organizations and educational institutions. In 2009, the Barers received the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Outstanding Philanthropist Award. They were also honored by CONTACT We Care – New Jersey’s crisis hotline – for their efforts to improve healthcare and the atmosphere in which children receive it. Ms. Barer serves as Director of the American Friends of Rambam Medical Center, Israel’s largest medical center and teaching hospital; they sponsor the educational dreams of Nicaraguan children; and they are active supporters of the Hebrew Academy of Morris County, where several of their grandchildren attend, as well as other educational institutions in the U.S. and abroad.
Dr. Dooley – the Medical Service Award honoree – served as president of Overlook’s Medical Staff from 1978 to 1979. In the 1980s, he led local efforts to comply with federal government initiatives to control healthcare costs by establishing and directing a Professional Standards Review Organization in Union County and helping to develop the HMO Healthways.
Merging his passions for medicine and aviation, Dr. Dooley piloted corporate jets for major companies like A & P and E.F. Hutton. Those contacts helped him establish the area’s first air ambulance service based at Teterboro Airport. With airplanes borrowed from friends and colleagues, he regularly flew to the aid of those who wanted to return home for medical care while they were out of town or on vacation.
Now retired from his internal medical practice with the Summit Medical Group, Dr. Dooley is still helping others on land and in the skies. For the past several years, he has participated in a 10-day medical mission to Haiti at the Sacre Coeur Hospital in Milot. As a Senior FAA-designated Aeromedical Examiner, he gives FAA medical exams to pilots and, occasionally, he still flies corporate jets.
Louise Gili and Eleanor McGlaughlin – the Volunteer Service Award honorees – have spent much of their lives volunteering for various organizations in their community; but at Overlook, they will forever be remembered as “Busy Bees.” For decades, these best friends have worked side by side, sewing Christmas stockings and Easter bunny buntings for maternity department infants and Benji Bear hand puppets for pediatric patients at Overlook. Louise, 94, does most of the prep work, like cutting and pinning, while Eleanor, 95, operates the sewing machine.
The friendship between the dynamic duo began more than 50 years ago when both were employed in the Millburn School District. Louise, a lifelong resident of Millburn, was a school nurse for five elementary schools in Millburn and Short Hills for 40 years. Eleanor, a resident of Short Hills, taught elementary school for more than 30 years.
Both have been honored for their volunteer work outside of Overlook, as well. Eleanor was recognized for her 25 years of service to the Millburn/Short Hills Red Cross, her alma mater Arcadia University, Millburn Library and Neighborhood House. Louise, who chairs the Overlook Auxiliary’s Short Hills Twig 24 received accolades for her 50 years of service to the Millburn/Short Hills Red Cross, as well as her efforts to initiate an alumni association at her alma mater Seton Hall University and establish the Essex County School Nurses Association.
Merck – the Corporate Service Award recipient – has been a longtime corporate partner to Overlook through The Merck Company Foundation. That partnership has included generous corporate philanthropy, board leadership and collaborative community health education efforts. Funds from employee matching gift programs benefited many facilities, technology and program enhancements at Overlook, including the neuroscience institute, the emergency department, the ambulatory suite, the employee child care center, the Healthy Avenues Van and the Carol G. Simon Cancer Center. Several community-minded executives have provided their service and expertise to Overlook and the Overlook Foundation by serving as medical center and foundation board members.
Established in 1957 by Merck, The Merck Company Foundation is funded entirely by the company and is Merck's chief source of funding support to qualified non-profit, charitable organizations. Since its inception, The Merck Company Foundation has contributed more than $600 million to support important initiatives that address societal needs and are consistent with Merck's overall mission to help the world be well.