Tom Berriman, Past President of what would become the American Academy of Healthcare Attorneys, a predecessor to the American Health Lawyers Association, passed away January 10, 2012 in Somerville, NJ.
Click here to read the obituary.
Send your tribute to Tom Berriman by emailing cdavis@healthlawyers.org; a tribute will appear in a future issue of AHLA Connections magazine.
Recollections from friends and colleagues
Tom Berriman served as the 11th President of the American Society of Hospital Attorneys, in 1977, prior to its re-naming to become the American Academy of Hospital Attorneys. As President-Elect, he oversaw the first of the Annual meetings of the group in Williamsburg, Va, and had the foresight to have two subsequent Past Presidents on the Program to discuss the antitrust implications of hospital 'collaboration'. It was the first time "antitrust" had ever been spoken by anyone attending an Annual Meeting, and for 99.721% of attendees, the first time they had heard the term since second year law school. Despite dealing with the largest reported mosquito population in Va History, Tom's skill and patience affirmed the Membership's decision to entrust him with the Presidency. His leadership skills, deeply essential in the ASHA's skirmishes with the AHA leadership (and finance office), were honed in his small firm management experiences combined with growing into a large firm arrangement. He had been a Board member for several years before the ascendancy to President Elect, and served as a knowledgeable, affable and valued organizational mentor for decades thereafter. Always very well spoken, polite beyond comparison and yet a constant source of gentle humor, Tom was both good friend and acquaintance to all he connected with in the ASHA/AAHA. His retirement--early by all standards except for a successor President, Bob Miller, leader of the pack of smart retirees--generated an absence of Tom from most Annual Meeting gatherings. He, among many others, was a part of the glue which encased the true mission of the founders of ASHA--that being thorough and open peer education in the expansive areas of Healthcare Law. He had a particular interest and earned knowledge of many of the attributes of Certificate of Need issues, and gladly shared all of it with those deeply in need of being educated.
-Dennis Purtell