Bill Mason called the Rotary Club of Jacksonville to order Monday to begin his term as the club’s 2013-14 president.
It also marked the start of the 102nd year of the club, which is known as Downtown Rotary.
Mason in June joined the Baptist Health Foundation board of directors after 15 years of serving on the boards of Baptist Health and Wolfson Children’s Hospital after his retirement as CEO of Baptist Health.
Mason is an emeritus member of both boards, as well as president emeritus of Baptist Health.
He told the group he grew up in Fairhope, Ala., and the influence of his grandfathers created a career dilemma that lasted from childhood until he was in college.
“Grandfather Mason was the town dentist and proprietor of the pharmacy. Grandfather Evans was the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Fairhope. I loved what each of them did for the community, so I couldn’t decide whether to go into medicine or the ministry,” he said.
Halfway through college, Mason said he was inspired by a guest lecturer, a Jesuit priest who was chancellor of Loyola University Health Science Campus.
“He talked a lot about his own struggle to decide and said he found his bliss in life when he became a hospital administrator,” said Mason.
Mason’s first job in health care administration was with the U.S. Agency for International Development.
He was assigned to the Philippines in the early 1960s to help develop a medical school in Manila. His next duty station was Saigon during the Vietnam War.
He left government service to become the CEO of Baptist Health in Tanzania, where he learned to speak fluent Swahili, and then went to Bangalore, India, to develop a new Baptist Medical Center.
Mason came to Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville in February 1978, and recently retired from its board of directors.
Mason said he and his wife, Julie, a former vice president of the Baptist Foundation, Jacksonville Community Council Inc. board member and freelance writer, would be committed to leading the club to achieve its goals during his year as its president.
Percy Rosenbloom, club past president and Rotary District 6970 president-elect, said one of the club’s goals for the next year is to continue to support Rotary International’s commitment to eradicate polio worldwide.
Rosenbloom said Rotary Clubs in more than 200 countries have donated $1.2 billion to the campaign, which has succeeded in eliminating the disease from all but three countries: Afghanistan, Algeria and Pakistan.
Rotary International has partnered with governments and health organizations across the world and with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to eliminate the disease.
Rosenbloom said the effort is estimated to take five more years.
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