MAYO CLINIC NEWS NETWORK – Richard B. “Dick” Cheney, former Mayo Clinic trustee, passed away on Nov. 3 at age 84. The former vice president’s leadership and support helped advance Mayo Clinic’s mission of patient care, education and research.
Board of Trustees leadership
Cheney joined Mayo Clinic’s Board of Trustees in 1998, bringing both political and business acumen to the role. As a trustee, he contributed extensive expertise to the board’s Nominating, Audit and Development committees.
Before joining the board, Cheney served as White House chief of staff for President Gerald Ford, secretary of defense under President George H.W. Bush and represented Wyoming in the U.S. House of Representatives.
He was chair and CEO of Halliburton, an American multinational corporation and the world’s second-largest oil service company, from 1995 to 2000.
Cheney resigned as a Mayo Clinic trustee in 2001 upon being sworn in as vice president under President George W. Bush; he served two terms in that office.
“We are deeply grateful for Vice President Cheney’s service to Mayo Clinic,” says Gianrico Farrugia, M.D. “His leadership and commitment to excellence strengthened our mission to provide hope and healing to patients around the world.”
At a 2004 event in Rochester, Minnesota, Cheney commented about his time on the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees.
“I had the privilege briefly of serving on the board of the Mayo Clinic and then had to give it up when I became vice president,” he remarked. “It’s a superb institution, something you all can be enormously proud of.”
Cheney was the second vice president to serve as a Mayo trustee. Walter F. Mondale, vice president under President Jimmy Carter, was a Minnesota native and served on the Mayo Clinic board from 1989 to 1994 and again from 1997 to 2001.
