For nearly four decades, David Beyel has played an important role in helping Shore Medical Center provide exceptional healthcare to the community. His involvement with the hospital extends well beyond the boardroom, from major decisions about its future to personal connections with caregivers and patients.
Shore Medical Center will honor Beyel, Chairman of its Board of Trustees, at its annual “A Cause to Celebrate” Gala on Friday, November 6, at the Golden Nugget Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. The event will recognize Beyel's contributions while raising funds to support patient care at Shore.
Beyel's relationship with Shore began in 1987, when he joined the hospital's Properties Board. He later served on the nursing home board before joining the Hospital Board of Trustees in 1992. Beyel remembers being surrounded by very experienced Board members who helped shape his understanding of the hospital's mission. They told him that eventually something would click, and he would understand what it meant to “bleed purple.” Once he developed that passion for helping the hospital and the community, he was hooked.
That moment came early in his Board tenure. After visiting an employee undergoing dialysis at Shore, Beyel learned about improvements that could make treatments more comfortable for patients. He helped secure new dialysis equipment that shortened treatments by approximately 45 minutes and made the patient environment more welcoming.
When he returned to the dialysis unit, patients greeted him with applause.
“I have a tear in my eye right now,” Beyel recalled during his interview, remembering the experience more than three decades later. He said the moment made him realize, “I'm helping people.” The experience also reinforced a lesson from his father, who taught him that it was “better to give than receive.”
Beyond his role on the Board, Beyel is a financial supporter of Shore and a familiar face at employee recognition dinners, Guardian Angel ceremonies, volunteer celebrations and fundraising events. “I don't want to miss anything,” Beyel said, explaining that he values representing the community and being there for hospital employees.
Rick Traa, who joined Shore's Board in 1974 and has served alongside Beyel for more than three decades, has seen that involvement firsthand. “He gives his time, he gives his talent, he gives his finances,” Traa said. “His goal has always been to see the hospital be the best possible hospital it can be.”
Traa recalled Beyel joining a Joint Commission review meeting by telephone while vacationing in France. He also praised Beyel's preparation for Board meetings and his interest in hospital employees. “He just goes the extra mile for every individual,” Traa said. “He wants to know as many people there as he can. He just doesn't want to show up for a board meeting. He cares about the employees.”
“I am incredibly proud to serve beside him, and incredibly proud to be able to call him a friend,” Traa added.
Pattye Herron, Secretary to the Board, has worked with Beyel for many years and sees how he approaches his responsibilities as chairman. “Among the many things Dave brings to the Board chair position are his passion and his intensity,” Herron said. “He's very focused on the hospital as a family, as the people, not just as an institution.”
Herron said Beyel works to ensure Board members are engaged and uses humor to put people at ease. “It's not, for him, just about sitting up there at the top. He's in the trenches,” she said.
Shore Medical Center President and CEO David R. Hughes has worked with Beyel both as a fellow Board member and during his tenure in senior leadership positions, including Chief Financial Officer, CEO and President. “I have tremendous appreciation for David's guidance, generosity and the personal interest he takes in Shore Medical Center,” Hughes said. “His volunteerism is remarkable. When you add up the hours he has devoted to this hospital over the years, it's the equivalent of working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for an entire year. That speaks volumes about the kind of person he is and how much Shore means to him.”
Beyel also credits the support of his family, particularly his wife, Sandi, son David Jr. and daughter Casey, for making his many years of involvement with Shore possible. He appreciates that they have always understood how important the time he spends at the hospital is, not only to him personally, but to the community that depends on Shore.
For Beyel, the reward comes from seeing the difference Shore makes in people's lives. “I don't get tired of it at all. It's in my blood,” he said.
The community is invited to join Shore Medical Center in honoring Beyel at the November 6 Gala. Tickets, program ads and sponsorship opportunities are available, with proceeds benefiting patient care at Shore. The ad deadline is October 23, 2026.
For more information about attending the Gala, becoming a sponsor, or placing an ad in the program, please contact Jessica Giles, Business Development Manager, at 609-653-3986 or Jessica.Giles@shoremedicalcenter.org.
To learn more about the gala and to view sponsorship, ticket and ad options, please click here.
