Rod was born in October, 1925 in Redwood City, California to Fred and Bertha Lamb. He was an excellent student and played every sport through childhood. He was the starting center of the Sequoia High School basketball team and among the leading scorers. Upon graduation in 1943 he enrolled at Canada College in Redwood City.
In 1945 he was drafted into the U.S.Army where he was enlisted until his honorable discharge in 1948. He then enrolled at Stanford University, was the center on the basketball team, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1950. Rod spent two years in medical school at George Washington University and then transferred to U.C. Berkeley where he completed his Master of Public Health in Hospital Administration degree in 1954. He spent the next two years as an assistant hospital administrator in the bay area.
In 1956 he married Dorothy Nanette Sharkey f Martinez, Ca., and moved to Santa Barbara, Ca., to become the administrator of a small community hospital known as Cottage Hospital. In 1961 Rod became the proud father of son Randy, who was followed in 1964 by his brother John. Rod was an active father who taught the boys to play many sports along with the mental toughness to excel. He loved watching his sons compete in games and swimming during their childhood and high school years. Rod loved to golf and was an active member of the LaCumbre Country Club in Hope Ranch for many years.
Rod was passionate about exceptional health care for the patients at Cottage Hospital. To accommodate the various community needs, he knew the hospital had to grow. He was instrumental in that growth from the late 1950’s until his retirement in 1989. The hospital transformed to having over 600 beds, a staff of 1600 and had numerous ancillary care facilities in and around Santa Barbara. Rod received some of the highest honors his peers could bestow. He was elected chairman of the California Hospital Association and the Association of Western Hospitals, president of the Hospital Council of Southern California and chairman of the California Health Care Forum. He was recipient of the CHA’s Walker Fellowship Award. Rod was also extremely active in community service. He was an active Rotarian for over forty years, being a president of the Rotary Club of Santa Barbara, a Rotary International executive, a recipient of the Paul Harris Award and an active member of the Rotary Club of Scottsdale for many years until his health started to fail.
He was involved in numerous other organizations such as the United Way and the UCSB Music Affiliates. In 1984, Rod and Nanette decided to go their separate ways. In 1986, he met a lady at the First Congregational Church named Nancy Gilpatrick with whom he fell in love and married in a beautiful small ceremony in Carmel, Ca. Their five children were the attendants. By 1991, Rod and Nancy moved to Scottsdale, Az., and became actively involved in the Valley Presbyterian Church, the Rotary Club and the Stanford Alumni Club.
In 2010 they moved to Sagewood in north Phoenix where they enjoyed many activities and making wonderful new friends. Rod also took piano lessons again, renewing his lifelong love of music.
Rod is survived by his wife Nancy, son Randy and wife Lisa, son John, Nancy’s daughters Lynn Bryson, Catherine Gusick and Mary Gilpatrick, and grandchildren Zachary, William and Alexandra Lamb, Cody Giddens, Piper and Declan Gusick. Rod was one of the most decent, respectable, honest and honorable of men. His warmth, love, sensitivity, humor and wit were among the many attributes which made him so endearing.
He will be greatly missed by his loving wife, dog “Mickey”, family and many friends. We take comfort in knowing how strong his faith was and that he is now with our Lord in Heaven. There are some who bring a light so great to the world that even after they have gone, the light remains. Donations would be welcomed by the Valley Presbyterian Foundation, the Rotary Foundation, Mayo Clinic for Alzheimer’s Disease Research or Hospice of Arizona.
Services at Valley Presbyterian Church, 6947 E. McDonald Drive, Paradise Valley, on Friday April 5th at 2:00 p.m. Burial services will be at a later date at the Santa Barbara Cemetery.
