By Mark Johnson/VTDigger
Cornelius “Con” Hogan, a veteran public policy maker who led the Vermont Agency of Human Services, Corrections Department and most recently served on the Green Mountain Care Board, died Sunday at his home in Plainfield of cardiac arrest. He was 77.
Hogan was an internationally recognized expert on social issues, particularly problems facing children and families, and wrote extensively about health care. He was also a successful private businessman and played banjo in a country bluegrass band.
Two years ago, Hogan received a kidney transplant after years of dialysis.
He is survived by his wife, Jeannette, and their two children, Ruth and Neil and their spouses, and two grandchildren. Hogan and his wife lived on and started a horse farm, East Hill Farm. Jeannette is a physical therapist who taught horseback riding to disabled children. Ruth is an international competitor and trainer in dressage.
No service or celebration plans were announced.
Hogan served as secretary of the Agency of Human Services from 1991 to 1999 and was known for instituting outcome-based programs. Prior to that, he served as corrections commissioner. He and Jeannette moved to Vermont in 1972 when he took the post of deputy corrections commissioner.
He stepped down from the Green Mountain Care Board last year after serving on the health care regulatory board since it started in 2011. Hogan was one of the co-authors in 2005 of “At the Crossroads: The Future of Health Care in Vermont.”
In 2002, Hogan ran for governor as an independent, gaining 10 percent in a race against Democrat Doug Racine and Republican Jim Douglas, the winner.
Hogan also worked on children and family issues: he was a senior consultant for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, was chair of the National Advisory Committee for the Robert Wood Johnson initiative for Strengthening Families through health care access, served on the advisory committee for the National Center for Children in Poverty, and was a consultant to the Children’s Defense Fund.
In Vermont, he had served as a director of the Permanent Foundation for the Well-Being of Vermont’s Children since 2000.
In 2015, the Con Hogan Award for Creative, Entrepreneurial Community Leadership was established and is given out annually as a “tribute to Con Hogan’s life’s work and commitment to public service.”
Hogan also was in private business, serving as president of International Coins and Currency, a Montpelier firm, for 11 years before becoming the head of AHS.
