Galen Dean Powers, a past president of the National Health Lawyers Association, AHLA Emeritus Fellow, and one of the founders of health law as a specialty area, passed away May 27, 2010 in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Mr. Powers was the founder of the Washington, DC firm Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville PC, a dedicated public servant, and had an illustrious health law career.
In a tribute to Mr. Powers (NHLA President 1990-91), AHLA CEO Peter Leibold said “we are all more than the sum of our professional accomplishments, and Galen had many of those, but true to the mission of an association of health lawyers, we will miss Galen because our community has lost a valued colleague, friend and mentor to many.”
Mr. Powers’ career was marked by exemplary accomplishments in both public service and private practice. His career began in 1965 in the Department of Health Education and Welfare Office of General Counsel. He worked on matters ranging from education and legislative drafting to welfare, social services, Medicaid and Medicare. He played a key role in the creation of the hospice benefit under Medicare and in the establishment of the program Health Services for Children with Special Needs in the District of Columbia. He was the first Chief Counsel for the Health Care Financing Administration (now Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services). During and after his years spent building and sustaining Powers Pyles, he pursued multiple other interests as well, including pro bono service as counsel to the Cosmos Club, and nurturing his Pennsylvania farm with its beautiful gardens.
Send your tribute to Galen Powers by emailing cdavis@healthlawyers.org; a tribute will appear in the July issue of AHLA Connections magazine and will be included on this page.
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Recollections from friends and colleagues
Galen was a professional who served as a model for many of us. When I was the GC of the American Hospital Association, he offered his hand without turning the palm. He contributed where he could either behind the scene or very much in the spotlight-he was comfortable either way. In private practice, he was a fierce competitor, but always with style and class. It was Galen who asked me to serve on the Board of the AHLA. For that, I am grateful. What a mark he left on his profession.
-Michael Anthony
Galen Powers was one of the early supporters of AHLA. He not only served President and on the Executive Committee and Board, but was there to help guide the organization at a time when its future and very existence was far from assured. He had a wonderful, warm personality and no one ever heard a harsh word from him about anyone and anybody. He gave leadership when it was needed, and sage wisdom when requested. He was a real rock in the foundation of AHLA. He will be missed as a professional and a man.
- Alan Bloom
This reminds us of how important it is to have people like Galen who are always looking out for the greater good. The current pressures of law firms make these people few and far between. We need to celebrate his life far and wide and get our message into arenas where young lawyers see how important it really is.
- Kay Felt
It was said of Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes that: "He prevailed not by the force of his personality but of his intellect." It was said of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that: "His personality was his power, and he wielded it perfectly." Galen possessed a superb intellectual power and he wielded it with wit, grace, compassion, and empathy. As was said by Justice Louis D. Brandeis: "We are not won by arguments that we can analyze, but by tone and temper; by the manner, which is the man himself." The health law bar enormously was enhanced by the intellect and manner of Galen D. Powers: a valued colleague and dear friend, and a wonderful human being.
- Alan Goldberg
Galen reached out to me almost 20 years ago asking that I consider serving on the NHLA Board. He spoke of servant leadership and the importance of the organization's educational mission. He was a true role model for a professional life fully realized. I admired him greatly and will miss him equally as much. Best regards.
- Doug Hastings
Galen was one of the Founding Fathers of the healthcare bar and the National Health Lawyers Association. His NHLA program on capital finance was the leading program of its kind and he was an early proponent of the publishing ventures that now flourish at AHLA. Galen was a lawyer's lawyer who patiently explained the nuances of statutory and regulatory construction to many a young lawyer. He founded one of the earliest and most successful healthcare boutique firms, Powers, Pyles,Sutter & O'Hare, which started on a shoestring (the first desks were card tables as I recall) in offices at Dupont Circle and now numbers over 40 professionals.
Galen had a great dry wit and was a terrific storyteller. He also loved being a gentleman farmer (he had grown up on a farm) and that passion sometimes collided with the practice of law in the city. Many years ago, the partnership at Powers, Pyles had decided that the Firm would join the then cutting edge trend of having ‘Casual Fridays’ at the office. The first Friday, everyone enthusiastically came to work casually attired. But when Galen came through the door, he had on his full suit and tie, as always. I asked him: "Galen, why aren't you taking advantage of Casual Friday?" He looked at me with a smirk and replied, ‘I didn't think clients would take kindly to seeing me in my bib overalls.’
Galen's mark on health law is a lasting one and he will be missed.
- Tom Hyatt
Galen was one of the founders of the specialty of health law and a leader in the field. He helped create a law firm with health care as a principal focus and established a practice environment that attracted other leaders in this specialty area. He not only had a natural curiosity regarding a wide range of substantive legal issues affecting the health care industry, but Galen had a strong personal interest in the attorneys he worked with, both inside and outside of his own firm. I enjoyed working with Galen when he led what is now AHLA, and his contributions as a member of the first generation of true health care attorneys will not be forgotten.
- Joel Michaels
Some people bring out the best in others. Galen Powers was one of those people, and he did it through the example he set.
I knew Galen as a colleague and friend for nearly 35 years from working for him in HHS in the 1970’s, to helping him open the Washington office of an existing health law firm, to helping him found, with Ron Sutter, our own firm in 1983. He was a unique person who wanted to create a unique law firm—one dedicated to providing high quality representation to health care clients but also one dedicated to handling cutting edge issues that made a positive difference in the lives of others.
It is clear from the tributes of others and the many e-mails and letters of condolence we have received that Galen was a remarkable and memorable person for many. For me, the traits that made him such so exceptional were his rock solid integrity, his perseverance, and his vision. Not bad characteristics for a farm boy from Indiana.
Throughout his life, Galen lived the statement by John Kennedy: "Some men see things as they are and say, 'Why'? I dream of things that never were and say, 'Why not'?". Galen Powers accomplished his life’s goal—he left the world a better place than he found it.
-Jim Pyles
Others have noted Galen’s unique contributions to the health law bar and his mentoring of a generation of lawyers now leaders in that bar. I would like to comment on several personal traits that I witnessed over the 16 years I was proud to call him my partner at Powers Pyles Sutter &Verville. First, despite his mastery of the intricacies of this most complex field of law, he was always a pragmatist. He often said “everything is illegal under the anti-kickback law. Now let’s figure out how to make this deal work.” Second, was his breadth as a lawyer and a person. He was as comfortable and competent at strategic and financial planning for clients as he was at parsing some fine point of a regulation he might have helped draft 30 years ago. Many successful lawyers can say the same, but how many are equally knowledgeable across a broad spectrum of practical and intellectual interests often far removed from law? Farming, formal gardens, landscape architecture, British political economy and American military history were among Galen’s many interests. And they were not just subjects on which he enjoyed casual reading or weekend “puttering;” they were disciplines he had studied in depth and which figured prominently in his life and world views. Third, Galen was grounded. He had a strong sense of his roots as an Indiana farm boy, and what he accomplished on a broader stage never changed how he viewed himself. The strength he derived from those roots shaped his life, and helped him face his own mortality with extraordinary calm and grace
Galen Powers lived a full and varied life. If he was not a “Renaissance Man,” he was close enough for me. All of his colleagues at Powers Pyles will miss him greatly.
- Robert J. Saner
Galen was a mentor to me, even though I never worked closely with him. As the top lawyer for Medicare and Medicaid, he had time for a state health department lawyer barely out of law school, who had Medicaid problems to work out. He was always thoughtful and gracious, and the epitome of what a health lawyer should be. I feel lucky to have known him.
I have been mourning Galen since I learned of his death last week, and was thrilled to discover what a magnificent life he had from his obituary. My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and family.
-Jenny Stiller
Galen was my supervisor for a couple of years when I worked in the government. Specifically, when HEW became HHS and the two divisions of the General Counsel's Office merged into the HCFA division, Galen led the group. Galen was a terrific lawyer and just as good a person. He allowed lawyers to develop their own careers, while always being there for the guidance and supervision young lawyers need. I learned a lot from Galen, and not just about health law. I, along with many others, will miss him.
- Sandy Teplitzky
Seventeen years ago, I interviewed with Galen when I was seeking a job at his law firm. (The “interview” was held over a glass of wine at a nearby hotel.) We talked in general about the firm and my nonprofit practice, and then at one point I happened to mention that I had a small hobby farm, which caused his ears to perk up. Galen told me that he had grown up on a farm as a boy where he worked the fields with horses and that he now had a large hobby farm (which became his eventual retirement home) in Chambersburg, PA. As we continued walking back to the office, he turned to me and said:“You know, I like to think of myself as a farmer who happens to practice law full time in order to make ends meet.” That comment was made only half-joking, and it stuck in my mind all these years. Galen was essentially telling me that he was the kind of person who “works to live” rather than “living to work”, and that by itself was enough to instantly sell me on the firm. Most lawyers in this city become consumed by the practice of law to the exclusion of everything else, but Galen proved that it is possible to maintain meaningful balance in your life while still practicing law at the very highest level, and that always impressed me about him. In addition to being a top-notch lawyer, Galen was also an incredibly interesting man with vast knowledge of more wide-ranging topics than anyone I have ever known. He was an expert on American history (including many years of in-depth study of the American Revolutionary War), the evolution of healthcare law, the finer points of farming and animal husbandry, the art of flower gardening and landscaping (including over 5000 bulbs that he planted in his own gardens), military history, antiques, and many other areas. He also had an astute understanding of human behavior, and of course, he was always a consummate gentleman. To me, Galen was the equivalent of having Abe Lincoln, Garrison Keillor, and the Farmer in the Dell all rolled into one, and I never tired of listening to his many amazing stories and words of wisdom. There certainly will never be another person like Galen, and my life has been much the better for having crossed his path.
- Ben Tesdahl
Galen was one of the most enjoyable people I worked with, as a former partner, NHLA officer, and just as a friend in a casual conversation. I will miss his warmth and humor.
- Michael Tichon
I don't have a lot to add to what's already been said about Galen both personally and professionally but would like to share a word about my professional experience with him and a memory.
In the late 1970s, I started to work for Galen as a young lawyer in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Galen assumed his lawyers had basic smarts but really looked for and nurtured two other attributes -- independence and judgment. When he found those present, Galen was prepared to give his lawyers enormous leeway and responsibility while always providing direction, insight, and support when needed. For a junior lawyer with ambition, this was an empowering and confidence-building environment. For me, it shaped my growth and development as a lawyer and my career in very fundamental ways.
During my first year working for Galen, my girlfriend (now wife) and I renovated a house on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. One afternoon that summer, Galen and I ducked out of the office for a visit to the house so he could see what we had taken on. I knew Galen had a keen interest in gardening and was able to wangle a visit to a house up the block on a double lot with a fabulous garden. For this man, it was easy to see there was much to life beyond work as I stood back and listened as Galen (beaming) and our neighbor talked about flowers, plants, and ground cover with true knowledge, love, and affection.
- Eugene Tillman