Liston A. Witherill, son of Lawrence and Dorothy Witherill, and longtime hospital and health system administrator in California and throughout the United States, died peacefully at home in Rustic Canyon on April 4. He was 87.
During a 29-year career with Los Angeles County, Witherill rose from management trainee through the ranks to become director of County-USC Medical Center (then called General Hospital), director of the (then) eight County Hospitals, and finally the first Director of Health Care Services, from 1972-1977, in charge of the four formally separate departments of hospitals, public health, mental health, and the county veterinarian.
Witherill established a unified health operation consisting of five Health Service Regions. At the time this was considered a radical but forward looking step for the then third largest public health care system in the country–exceeded only by the Federal Veterans Administration System and New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation.
Witherill retired from the County in 1977 and went on to a long career in the private sector with various national companies and, more recently, his own consulting firm. He directed successful large-scale management and consulting of public health service systems in need of financial and operational turnaround. Notable projects included three years managing the Cook County Hospital in Chicago, where he turned a deficit into a $50-million surplus without a single layoff. He also spent 2-½ years in New York opening the 500-bed Woodhull Medical Center in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and also worked to help alleviate licensing and accreditation problems at Harlem Hospital.
Witherill and his wife Carolyn (who died November 21, 2008) were married for 61 years and were well-known for their large and unusually diverse family of 10 children, eight of whom were adopted (together with two “add-ons”, in need, and brought home by the Witherill children). Despite the diversity of backgrounds, ethnicity and medical conditions of these seemingly unadoptable children, Liston and Carolyn created a family environment in which everyone thrived. This family has so far produced many, many grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
Throughout his life, Witherill was an avid jazz fan–collecting records (and later, CDs), playing jazz drums, visiting jazz clubs, and not infrequently sitting in with the jazz pros. For the past 33 years he was the regular drummer with the Friday Jazz Group that jammed and rehearsed most every Friday afternoon. This group is popular throughout the Westside, playing 10 to 15 gigs a year including private parties and public venues like the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.
Born July 25, 1925, and raised in Syracuse, New York, Witherill graduated from Deerfield Academy in 1943, and Harvard University in 1947, with a degree in economics. During World War II he served in the Navy for 2-½ years, reaching the rank of Lt. JG.
Witherill is survived by his younger sister, Linda A. Witherill; his 10 children; two “add-on” children; grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A jazz musical party to celebrate Liston Witherill’s life will be held in the near future. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) at 2701 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90057 or Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center, 4305 Degnan Blvd., Suite 101, Los Angeles, CA 90008.
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