Herb Pardes

Herbert Pardes (July 7, 1934 – April 30, 2024) was an American physician, psychiatrist, and the executive vice-chairman of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

Pardes was the Dean of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons when he was selected to be the inaugural CEO of the merged Presbyterian Hospital and New York Hospital. Dr Pardes retired in 2011 as CEO of the combined entity, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and assumed his current post. He is a national figure in psychiatry and academic medicine.

Education and career Born in the Bronx, New York,

In 2008, the New York State Office of Mental Health renamed the main building of its New York State Psychiatric Institute, the Herbert Pardes Building. In 2008 Pardes received compensation of more than nine million dollars, along with other benefits.

On November 13, 2009, John J. Mack, chairman of the board of trustees, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, informed staff "that Dr. Herb Pardes has decided to retire at the end of 2011 as our President and Chief Executive Officer ... While Dr. Pardes is stepping down as CEO at the end of 2011, the intention is that he will continue to play a vital role at the hospital beyond that time."

In 2014, the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation announced a new Pardes Humanitarian Prize in Mental Health would be named in honor of Pardes for his profound impact on the lives of people suffering with mental illness. The award is bestowed annually.

Personal life and death Pardes lived near the main Columbia University campus in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. He is survived by three sons, Stephen, Lawrence, and James, six grandchildren and his partner, Dr. Nancy Wexler, a professor of neuropsychology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons who was the lead researcher for a study of an extended family’s Huntington’s disease in Venezuela for two decades. She herself has the disease.

Pardes died from aortic stenosis at his home in Manhattan, on April 30, 2024, at the age of 89.