PHI Statement on the Loss of Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson

The Public Health Institute mourns the loss of Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson, who passed this weekend. The Public Health Institute was proud to call him a health champion and a partner, and we send our deepest condolences to all grieving his loss, most particularly his wife, family and close circle of friends, and colleagues including our own board chair, Anthony Barrueta and prior board member Sharon Levine.

Bernard’s impact on the public health and healthcare communities cannot be overestimated. Not only did he change the conversations we had about health equity, he made the practice of assessing and delivering healthcare more equitable too, and built a more diverse workforce that better reflected and engaged the communities they worked in. Under his guidance, Kaiser Permanente became a leader in delivering compassion and care not just within the walls of the hospital but out into the communities that surrounded them. From creating farmers markets to monitoring healthy housing, Kaiser Permanente didn’t just treat illness—they prevented it. And under his watch, people thrived.

His loss is great, and his legacy will live on—in the practices he changed in hospital systems, in the communities that have greater access to health, and in the lives of all those who knew him.