Rina Spence, the former president and CEO of Emerson Hospital, died June 10 at the age of 72, according to a June 23 report by the Boston Globe.
Raising two children while working full time gave her the foundation to run the Concord, Mass.-based Emerson hospital.
"Hospital administration involves juggling multiple tasks, something our society trains women to do simply through the process of running a family and career," she told the Globe in 1991.
When she began working at Emerson, it had a budget deficit. When she left her post as CEO, the hospital had a surplus of cash reserves and was able to expand its staff and service area.
After leaving Emerson, she had raised enough money from investors to open the Spence Center for Women's Health, which consolidated traditional medical services, acupuncturists and herb therapists in one facility. She also launched a health information website for teenage girls.
At the age of 72, she was living in Cambridge, Mass., where she died June 10 from cancer.