This week we learned of C. Duane Dauner’s tragic death in a solo auto wreck not far from his Palm Desert home. We are shocked and saddened. We mourn for him and for his surviving family members — wife Diane and his children and grandchildren.

Duane guided CHA from 1985 to 2017, after roles with the Kansas and Missouri Hospital associations. Over the years he became a titan in the health care industry, influencing legislation and policy to the benefit of hospitals in not just those three states but all around the country. He possessed computer-like recall, deploying names and details and speaking authoritatively on dozens of topics. To see him in a group setting was to view an extraordinary strategist and orator in action. Above all though, Duane radiated an interest in people — and that almost certainly was the secret of his success.

Dauner at HASC’s 2011 Annual Meeting at St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, Dana Point.

Personally he was a mentor and a friend — Duane had a positive impact on my health care career from its beginnings as an eager government relations lead at Sharp Healthcare, to becoming an association executive. I know that there are many who also had the honor of working with and learning from Duane. 

To say the least, he will be missed. It is my prayer that he is playing golf, driving his favorite cars and continuing to hold court with his plethora of stories in the afterlife.  

Rest in peace Duane — God bless and godspeed.

George G.

Contact:
George W. Greene, Esq.
(213) 538-0706
ggreene@hasc.org