Herbert Pardes, who oversaw the growth of a giant hospital, has died aged 89

As a psychiatrist, he led New York-Presbyterian after the landmark merger, improving patient care and financial standing and raising money to expand the network throughout the region.

Dr. Herbert Pardes, a psychiatrist and former director of the National Institute of Mental Health who brought order to the merger of two major medical centers that became New York-Presbyterian Hospital and led it for 11 years, died April 30 at his home in Manhattan. He was 89 years old.

His son Steve said the cause was aortic stenosis.

Dr. Pardes (pronounced Par-diss) was appointed president and CEO of the hospital in late 1999, nearly two years after the merger of New York Hospital and Presbyterian Hospital. For the previous decade, he had served as dean of the School of Medicine at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, which is affiliated with Presbyterian's medical school.

"It's no secret that as dean of the medical school, I didn't always agree with the hospital administration", he said in a thick Bronx accent on a CUNY television program in 2011. "I thought I might be able to get better cooperation if I moved to a hospital job".

The merger created one of the largest healthcare providers in the country with 2,369 hospital beds, 13,000 employees and annual revenues of $1.6 billion. The company has 167 medical facilities located from Manhattan to Rockland and Orange counties in New York City. Its hospitals include Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan.

"It was a remarkably successful merger, given the different cultures of the two institutions", Kenneth E. Ruske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association trade group, said in an interview. "He was the bridge that allowed for a smooth and painless transition of this institution".