Joseph Mitchell, former executive director of the San Benito
Health Foundation, was killed May 16 in an auto accident in rural
San Joaquin County.
Joseph Mitchell, former executive director of the San Benito Health Foundation, was killed May 16 in an auto accident in rural San Joaquin County.
Mitchell, 55, who resigned in February after working as the foundation’s executive director for two years, died at San Joaquin General Hospital, the California Highway Patrol said.
The administrator of Glenn Medical Center in Willows since March, Mitchell directed the San Benito Health Foundation through one of its most difficult financial periods.
“Joe Mitchell was very successful in bringing the clinic from a financial crisis into fiscal stability and giving the community an opportunity to continue benefiting from this facility,” foundation board member James De La Cruz said. “The health care community has lost a major asset. He provided excellent leadership.”
Mitchell, who had also served as a trustee for the Yosemite Community College District since 1997, left the foundation on good terms to pursue other goals, De La Cruz said.
“He completed every goal he had set for himself here and said he needed to move on to bigger challenges,” he said.
The fatal accident happened at about 7:10 p.m. when Mitchell, a Sonora resident, was stopped at a stop sign on Highway 88 at the intersection of Highway 12, the CHP said.
As Mitchell pulled into the intersection, his 1992 Honda Accord was struck by a 1992 Honda Civic driven by a 17-year-old youth from Valley Springs, whose name was not released by the CHP because of his age.
Mitchell was airlifted to the hospital in French Camp, near Stockton, where he died of his injuries, the CHP said.
The accident is still under investigation, the CHP said.
