PBAA to honor health care executive

The Pitt-Bradford Alumni Association will honor George Repchick '82, a corporate executive in the health care industry, with its Alumni Award of Distinction.

The award will be presented during Commencement, to be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 30, by Dr. Livingston Alexander, university president.

“George Repchick is well-deserving of this award for a plethora of reasons, not the least of which is how far he has come from very modest beginnings and how much he cares for and gives to those in need,” Alexander said.

“He attributes much of his success as a business executive to the education and mentoring he received while he was a student at Pitt-Bradford.

“He's an inspiration to students currently enrolled at Pitt-Bradford, and we're proud of all he's accomplished during his very successful career.”

Repchick was nominated by fellow Class of 1982 alumnus John Foerstner.

Repchick is co-owner and president of Saber Healthcare Group LLC, which owns and operates more than 100 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in six states.

He and his partner, Bill Weisberg, began Saber in 2001 by operating a single inner-city nursing home in Cleveland. Today Saber employs more than 10,000 people in Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Indiana and Florida. It is one of the largest nursing home providers in the United States with more than 10,000 beds.

Additionally, Repchick has led an initiative to develop and build state-of-the-art new nursing homes in all of Saber's markets. This is relatively unique in an industry where most facilities are at least 25 years old. Most of Saber's homes are less than 10 years old.

In addition to leading the growth of Saber, Repchick has also successfully co-founded businesses in the institutional pharmacy, oxygen and durable medical equipment, home health, ambulance and even the restaurant industries.

Repchick and Weisberg also sponsor charity events through Saber, raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Alzheimer's Association and the American Heart Association. In 2012, they began the Saber Healthcare Foundation, a private nonprofit foundation. Repchick sits on the board of the foundation, which has donated to local food banks, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Alzheimer's Association, the American Heart Association and Make-A-Wish.

Privately, he and his family also volunteer in local soup kitchens and are committed to supporting children's athletics. He has generously given of his time to the Pitt-Bradford Alumni Association and has served as its president.

As a member of the PBAA, he has also served as chair of the scholarship committee and is currently chair of the PBAA Strategic Planning Committee. He annually hosts a Dinner with a Panther and has volunteered as a speaker for the Backpack to Briefcase program and Executive Speaker Series.

He is a member of the Pitt-Bradford Advisory Board.

Candidates for the Alumni Award of Distinction must have attended Pitt-Bradford, but may have graduated from other institutions. Candidates are evaluated based on their level of professional achievement and service to the community. Any members of the Pitt-Bradford community, including alumni, faculty, staff, administration, students and advisory board members, may submit nominations.

Previous honorees have been Divia Thani Daswani '01, Richard Johnson '88-'90, Tamra Minnier '81, Dr. Lee Colosimo '65-'67 and Dr. Jill Owens '93.