Unfortunately, Majors’ entry into the profession’s history became indelible last month.

While in his office Majors, 63, suffered a stroke on January 3, and swelling on the right side of his brain – the creative side he used so much – culminated in his death three days later at Bloomington (IN) Hospital.

More than 1,100 people attended his memorial service on Monday, January 8.

Majors, MBA, CMRP, FAHRMM, had been director of materials management at the 300-bed Bloomington Hospital since 1999. Previously, he spent 22 years as director of materials management at Wishard Memorial Hospital, which is part of the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Although he spent nearly three decades in his materials management career at two different hospitals, his 10 years of sales experience also helped him develop a keen understanding of the buyer-seller relationship and how it fits in supply chain management.

Majors was very active in the advisory councils of University HealthSystem Consortium, VHA and Novation, as well as in the Association for Healthcare Resource and Materials Management and in the Indiana Hospital Purchasing & Materials Management Association, where he held leadership roles – most notably the office of president.

Majors was an early and avid supporter of electronic commerce, whether it was Internet-based, or involved electronic data interchange, bar coding or radiofrequency identification (RFID), and an expert in healthcare systems automation. He also was a staunch advocate of group purchasing and its inherent value to supply chain management, even when it wasn’t fashionable, during the variety of federal investigations into the industry’s alleged anticompetitive practices. He faithfully participated in a number of national committees and task forces, specializing in these areas of his expertise.

Because of his industry knowledge and experience, Majors frequently was consulted during the development of new healthcare products and technologies, new processes and ways to ensure successful relationships between buyers and sellers.

"He was a creative leader that had such a dramatic effect on so many people, but if you sat him down and told him that he would give you this look and ask you, "are you sh@+#ing me?" remembered Michael Bohon, director, OM Solutions. "This profession was a calling to him and not just a 9 to 5 job. He always wanted to raise the image of supply chain management."

In fact, Majors had been working on a presentation for sales reps and managers at the upcoming AHRMM national conference in San Diego in mid-August that was to be a prototype for a potential future educational track.

"When any controversy or personality conflict arose," noted Phil Profeta, corporate director, purchasing, University of Rochester (NY), "Bob had the ability to diffuse the situation – either with an aside word, a joke or something conciliatory."

Randy Hayas, corporate director, supply chain services, Shands Healthcare, Gainesville, FL, agreed. "At the VHA and UHC meetings early on, no one knew what to make of Bob because he was so different," he recalled. "He always had a different perspective on what could be done. He would tell you that ‘I’m just one of you trying to make this work.’ He was just a down-to-earth guy."

Together, and in their "spare" time, Majors, Bohon, Profeta and Hayas had been developing an informal think tank of intelligence geared toward providing advisory and educational resources for healthcare materials managers. Although an ongoing work-in-progress for at least two years, this "Mat Pack" as they jokingly referred to themselves after a journalist’s suggestion (referring to Frank Sinatra’s "Ocean’s 11"-style group of show performers known as the Rat Pack) was approaching a formal debut later this year. Even minus one, the remaining three core participants in the group plan to proceed in Majors’ memory, they said.

During his collegiate years in the early 1960s, Majors played varsity tennis for Indiana University, where he earned his bachelor of science and an MBA, and was a member of the I-Men’s Association, the Indiana University Alumni Association, and Sigma Chi Fraternity, according to the Bloomington (IN) Herald-Times. His hobbies included woodworking, gardening, travel, sports, and poetry.

Majors is survived by his wife Jean, and three sons, Todd Majors and his fiancé Karen Gross, of Newport, KY;, Marc Majors and his wife, Megan, and their children, Taylor and Will, of Lexington, KY, and Tim Majors and his wife, Kristin, and their son, Max, also of Lexington.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Bloomington Hospital Foundation in memory of Bob Majors, P.O. Box 1149, Bloomington, IN 47402.

"The sudden unexpected loss of Bob has put a zing in the wow for the start of the new year. It has been a privilege to get to work with and learn from Bob.
Although he was my boss, I was treated like an equal and we often had discussions on various topics where he was seeking my input and ideas or bouncing thoughts my way. Bob was a mentor and a friend to many. Even someone on the opposite side of the negotiation table from Bob walked away with admiration and respect for him. He worked hard, played hard and enjoyed life. 

"I remember Bob at an annual AHRMM conference, and a young medical buyer walked up to Bob and asked him what he needed to do to become a materials manager in healthcare. Bob said he would sit with him for a moment and try to give him some guidance. Well, I walked by that area about 90 minutes later, and Bob was still sitting with that young buyer covering a host of topics. Bob truly cared about our profession and the people in it.

"I will miss him."  

"After serving on the council I would run into Bob at the VHA Leadership Conferences or regional meetings. He was very active in VHA Central. Bob served the VHA Central region as chair of their Materials Council. He gave freely of his time and talent to better the work we did. I think he believed that in doing so he benefited himself and his peers. He most recently was a participant on the IV Systems task force. He was a valuable contributor once again bringing balance and common sense to the process. Bob had a great enthusiasm for life and an ability to look for fun in the work, as well. One of the first instances that I met Bob he composed an Ode to Novation that he got the council to sing at the conclusion of a meeting and again for a group at the Leadership conference. 

"Bob stands out as a leader in the industry because of his knowledge of the healthcare supply chain, his ability to vision a better future state, and his ability to listen and communicate with his peers. He was a committed family man and spoke often of his three sons and wife."

"His great sense of humor and full body laugh were contagious, and you felt like you got to know his family very well through his stories. Bob was a proud grandfather and father, and was like a newlywed when he spoke about his wife Jean. He loved wine, his yearly trips with his buddies, and his sleepy community near Bloomington, IN. The halls and podiums of industry meetings will be a little quieter now that Bob is gone, although his presence will be forever felt.  We will miss him immensely."

Our prayers and thoughts are with his family."