GAUBE

The chief executive officer of financially ailing Landmark Medical Center submitted his resignation yesterday, according to a statement from the Woonsocket hospital.

Landmark has been losing money for many years and at the end of the last fiscal year was $7.2 million in the hole. The hospital petitioned Superior Court late last month to clear the way for a potential merger with another hospital.

In the petition, Gary Gaube, chief executive officer and trustee of Landmark, cited the facility’s provision of more than $8.5 million annually in uncompensated care to the uninsured and the underinsured as a key reason for its troubles.

Gaube has remained on the job since the filing June 26, the day a Superior Court judge named Pawtucket lawyer Jonathan Savage to oversee the hospital’s operation.

In his role as overseer, Savage is functioning as the hospital’s president, CEO and chairman of the board, approving all expenditures, hiring and other decisions.

Judge Michael A. Silverstein said he expects to name a national health-care expert to direct the hospital’s operations, possibly in conjunction with Savage, as early as Thursday.

The developments left open whether a role remained at Landmark for Gaube.

“I take great pride in the success we achieved in bringing new and expanded health-care services to our community,” Gaube said in a statement released to The Journal. “There is no doubt that these are trying times financially for all community hospitals, and I feel the timing is right to announce my departure as Landmark begins this new chapter in its long history.”

Gaube’s departure is voluntary, Savage said.

“He deserves tremendous credit for seeking court intervention to keep the hospital stable,” Savage said. “That’s a difficult thing to do. It showed a real commitment to the community.”

Gaube, a native of Binghamton, N.Y., has worked for the hospital for about 20 years, having started as its chief financial officer in 1988. Now a resident of Woodstock, Conn., he became CEO nine years ago.

Gaube, 56, will leave the hospital at year’s end.

Through a hospital spokesman, he declined comment on the reason for his resignation.

As for the reasoning behind the year-end departure, Savage said: “It seemed like a natural break point.”

Currently, Gaube earns $500,000 a year. The hospital also provides him with a car, as well as medical and life insurance benefits.

With his resignation, he is waiving a severance payment “in excess of a couple of million dollars,” Savage said.

But the departing CEO will receive unspecified payments for unused sick and vacation time.

“We’re calculating that right now,” Savage said.

Gaube’s medical benefits will continue for up to one year, but he will take over his own life insurance payments. He will also be able to purchase the vehicle the hospital provides him.

The hospital will not provide Gaube an office or staff assistance after he departs, Savage said.

In the interim, Gaube will assist Savage, or another hospital overseer, the Pawtucket lawyer said, but did not specify what duties or projects Gaube would undertake in the coming months.

Additionally, Richard Charest, Landmark’s president, has taken a 25-percent pay cut, Savage said, and now will be paid $300,000 annually.

No other executive departures are expected at this point, Savage said.

pgrimald@projo.com