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Hall of Fame for Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership remembers Carter Blake, Bellwether Class of 2010

SCHAUMBURG, IL (September 9, 2015) – Carter Blake understood what it meant to work in the trenches of supply chain management even as he moved up the organizational chart to the board room during his nearly four-decade career in healthcare. And he never forgot his roots.

Bellwether League Inc. has learned that Blake, 77, Bellwether Class of 2010, died Saturday, May 16, after a long illness.

Robert “Bud” Bowen, Bellwether Class of 2014, and Bellwether League Inc. Founding Secretary, remembered Blake as a mentor and friend.

“I first met Carter Blake more than 35 years ago, when I began my career in healthcare group purchasing,” Bowen recalled. “He was the Director of Purchasing at the [Sisters of Charity of] the Incarnate Word Healthcare System in Houston, but had already made his name and reputation known and respected by many while he was at OSF Healthcare, [owned and operated by] The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis in Peoria, IL. Everyone in the industry that knew Carter spoke highly of him. His professional skills, warm personality, sense of humor, character and integrity set him aside as a true leader of our industry. 

“In the mid-1980s, Amerinet was fortunate to have Carter join us as Director of Group Purchasing at our Rhode Island shareholder, Vector Healthsystems,” Bowen continued. “For the next 20 years I was fortunate to have Carter as a colleague, mentor, and most of all, friend.”

After a long and storied healthcare career where he started as a corpsman caring for devices and instruments at Brook Army Hospital in 1958, Blake retired on Halloween in 1997 to return to Texas and his family. To view Blake’s profile in Bellwether League Inc., the Hall of Fame for Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership, please click here.

“Carter Blake touched many people in his long and full life, and because of his love of life and people, we all have many, many wonderful ‘Carter’ memories to reflect upon in the years to come,” Bowen added. “He is missed terribly but lives on with all of us who were so blessed to have known him.”

Richard Perrin, Bellwether Class of 2014, and Founding Board Member, remembered Blake as “a good man with lots of humor.”

“I had the pleasure of working with Carter when he was at Amerinet in the late 80s and early 90s,” he recalled. “Carter was very well-respected for his honesty and willingness to speak his piece of mind. Most of all, for those of us who worked with him, his witty and humorous perspectives of life were what gave special joys to our meetings and efforts.”

Blake’s wife D. Darlene called Carter “a joy in our life,” and that “his family and I miss him immensely.” She further said that Carter enjoyed being a part of Bellwether League and that “he felt it was an honor.”

Blake was born in Bradford, IL, a small town about 35 miles north of Peoria. He is survived by his wife D. Darlene, three children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

About Bellwether League Inc.

Bellwether League Inc.’s Board of Directors chooses deceased, retired and active professionals with a minimum of 25 years of exemplary service and leadership performance in supply chain operations that meet its selection criteria. Honorees demonstrate their qualifications by advancing the profession through work experience and performance and participation in professional organizations and their communities.

To date, Bellwether League Inc., has honored 80 innovators, leaders and pioneers in healthcare supply chain management in five distinct categories: Education & Media, Supply Chain Management, Group Purchasing, Supplier and Consulting Services.

Launched in July 2007 by a group of influential veterans in the healthcare supply chain industry, Bellwether League Inc., is a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit corporation that honors men and women who have demonstrated significant leadership in, influence on and contributions to the supply chain from healthcare providers, product manufacturers and distributors, group purchasing organizations, consulting firms, educational institutions and media outlets.

Bellwether League Inc. is funded by five Founding and Platinum Sponsors – Halyard Health, McKesson, MedAssets, Owens & Minor and Premier – and a host of additional sponsors, highlighted on Bellwether League Inc.’s Web site.

For more information, to become a sustaining, corporate or individual sponsor or to nominate honoree candidates visit Bellwether League Inc.’s Web site at www.bellwetherleague.org.