“He was such a successful businessman and visionary, and always about how we could care for our city,” said Jenny Lewis, president and CEO of the Miami Valley Hospital Foundation.
Lewis said Weber was an advocate for unrestricted philanthropic giving, recognizing that Miami Valley Hospital regularly worked to bring advanced technology to Dayton. The foundation could expedite the purchase of such technology on behalf of the hospital and community, she said.
“He was just so forward-thinking,” Lewis said. “Nothing was impossible to him.”
Weber started his career in 1955 when he began working at the first Mayor’s Jewelry shop in the Dayton area, which had been opened in the 1930s by his father-in-law. In the early ‘70s, Weber started his own business when he opened his first location of Weber Jewelers in Hamilton.
Throughout the years, Weber bought up other businesses including Royston’s, Spencer Jewelers and Colonial Jewelers. And for several years, Weber Jewelers was housed in the first floor of Kettering Tower in downtown Dayton.
The business remained in the tower for around 20 years, until it was relocated to 3109 Far Hills Ave. The jewelry store closed in 2016 following Weber’s retirement.
Weber’s career included time as Dayton city commissioner, and chair of MedAmerica Health Systems, parent of Miami Valley Hospital, from 1992 to 2001. He also served on numerous boards, including as chairman of the Premier Health Board of Trustees from 1997 to 2004; chairman of the Miami Valley Hospital Board of Trustees from 1988 to 1992; and chairman of the Wright State University Board of Trustees. Weber also played a role in creating a new Department of Geriatrics at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at WSU in 2006.
Tom Breitenbach, who as Premier Health’s first president and CEO from 1995 to 2010 worked closely with Weber, described him as a wonderful partner – a “pragmatic visionary” who wanted to maintain Dayton’s vibrancy by keeping health care thriving in the city’s core while recognizing the need to bring a more regional approach to Premier Health’s mission.
That included a vision for affiliating with other hospitals such as Middletown Regional Hospital (now Atrium Medical Center) and Upper Valley Medical Center in Miami County, both of which are now part of Premier Health.
Weber was also instrumental in forming Premier Health Partners in 1995, the joint operating company of MVH and Good Samaritan Hospital, which closed in 2018.
Breitenbach recalled Weber as passionate about caring for people who had limited resources.
“He embodied Premier’s value of providing care to all regardless of the ability to pay,” he said.
While serving as chair of Wright State University’s board of trustees, Weber was able to synthesize medical education with community-based medicine, strengthening ties between the university and Premier Health.
“He was an extremely positive person,” Breitenbach said. Despite bringing an appropriate dose of skepticism to his leadership, Weber “had strong faith in the essential goodness of people. Given the right circumstances, he believed people would do the right thing.”
Weber’s family shared many of these sentiments.
“We all felt that he was there for us for guidance and there to support us in whatever fashion our journey led us,” said daughter Lisa Greenberg. “We were always so proud to call him our father ... he always genuinely wanted to be there to see you succeed, but also to be there when you were having a hard time.”
Greenberg said her father always seemed to make time for everyone, both professionally and personally. She said his attentive, caring nature reminded her of a children’s book, called “The Mitten” by Jan Brett, which tells the story of a mitten that stretches to accommodate animals that one by one inhabit it in search of warmth.
“That was my father; there was always room for a new relationship if he found it meaningful,” she said. “He had room for everybody, including colleagues and friends at any stage in his life, and if they were important to him, they stayed in his life.”
Funeral services were held for Weber on May 4.
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