EAST MEADOW, NY – Greek-American businessman George Tsunis, and recent honoree at the Hellenic Lawyers Association (HLA) Gala, announced on December 23 that he would be stepping down as the Chairman of the Board of NuHealth, the public benefit corporation that runs Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC), Newsday reported.

He began his tenure as the Chairman on February 1, 2018 and his last day will be January 17, 2020.

Matinecock resident Tsunis, 51, is the Chairman and CEO of Chartwell Hotels and Chairman of the Battery Park City Authority. Also an attorney, developer, philanthropist, and public policy advisor with a strong interest in the intersection of economic and foreign affairs, Tsunis received the HLA’s Distinguished Service Award on November 1.

He was appointed in 2018 as Chairman of the NuHealth Board by Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat.

“Tsunis’ departure comes as NuHealth, which treats many low-income and uninsured patients as Nassau County’s only public hospital, has struggled with persistent budget deficits and endured leadership turnover,” Newsday reported, adding that “last month, the Tsunis-led board approved a union contract for more than 3,000 employees, and the Nassau Interim Finance Authority said it was mulling the possibility of taking over NuHealth’s finances.”

“I’m a big believer that every job has a beginning, a middle and an end, and I think I’ve come to the conclusion of my usefulness there,” said Tsunis, Newsday reported.

Tsunis called the NuHealth position “one of the great honors of my life,” Newsday reported adding that “he said he thanked Curran over the weekend ‘for giving me an opportunity to serve the residents of Nassau County, and it gives the County Executive ample opportunity to find a replacement.’”

The Newsday report also noted that “immediately after his appointment in February 2018, Tsunis fired longtime employees and vendors he deemed to have had longtime ties to Republican and Democratic officials,” and that “he also ended the practice of sending hospital employees to an insurance conference in the Caribbean on the taxpayer’s dime, helped to shutter an employment agency within NUMC he dubbed a ‘patronage pit’ and removed the operator of its coffee shop for nonpayment of bills.”