PROVO — Merrill Gappmayer, a volunteer trustee of Intermountain Healthcare for more than 30 years and a nationally recognized health-care advocate, received one of Intermountain's highest honors Tuesday. As recognition for his years of service and voluntarism, the Utah Valley Family Medicine Center, 475 W. 940 North, was renamed the Merrill Gappmayer Family Medicine Center.
Gappmayer, an Orem resident who works as a land developer in Utah County, has devoted much of his past 30 years to defining and promoting the best practices in health-care governance on a national level. He was recognized with Modern Healthcare magazine's National Trustee of the Year Award in 1996 and given the American Hospital Association's National Trustee of the Year Award in 2005.
Gappmayer launched his service career for Intermountain Healthcare as a governing board member of Orem Community Hospital in 1976. He continued to serve on the governing boards of Orem Community Hospital and Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. He joined Intermountain's board of trustees in 1988 and served as chairman of the board of trustees from 2002 until this year.