Jack McConnell was the youngest of eight children of a Methodist minister. As the children were growing up, they were regularly asked by their father, “What have you done for someone today?” The question may have been rhetorical, but it made an impression on Jack.
Jack went on to become a medical doctor and spent his professional career doing research for large corporations. He made a name for himself at Johnson & Johnson by helping lead the development of Tylenol. Upon his retirement, he moved to Hilton Head, S.C., intending to spend his time improving his golf game. As he settled into that community, he encountered many people who lacked medical care.
His father’s words clearly haunted him. He must have been thinking, “These people could use my help; what can I do to lend a hand?” Over the course of the next number of years, he found little time for golf. Instead, he spent his time convincing doctors and others to volunteer their time to bring free medical care to those in need.
Don’t you just love America? So many people followed his example that upon Jack’s death, there are now over 10,000 volunteers in 89 treatment centers in 28 states who are serving 95,000 people annually. Fourteen more centers are currently under development.
One of them is right here in Cape May County. In 1998, Dr. Joseph Salvatore and his wife, Anne, heard of Dr. McConnell, visited him in South Carolina, and invited him to come and assist in starting a Volunteers in Medicine facility here. Jack came, and he shared his passion with a number of us in the boardroom of Cape Regional Medical Center (formerly Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital).
I sat next to him while he explained his vision to all of us assembled in the room. He was filled with so much compassion for his fellow man. His words emotionally moved me. When he took his seat, I leaned over and expressed to him, “As you stood there explaining your thoughts on how we all could give of ourselves to those who can give nothing in return, I was so impacted, feeling as though Christ himself was speaking.” Nobody before or since has had that impact on me. The Cape May County VIM opened its doors in March 2002 in a facility owned by Cape Regional at 423 Route 9 North, Cape May Court House, and rents it to VIM for $1 per year.
Unmistakably he influenced a lot of lives. After his death Feb. 6, 2018, the Wall Street Journal devoted a full third of a page in their Obituary section to tell the story of his life and his selfless contribution to humanity.
