Dennis Magee
October 9, 1937 - August 12, 2023
“The work goes on. The cause continues. The hope still lives. And the dream shall never die.”
Indian Health Council, Inc. Founder and Administrator, 1970-1999
In retrospect, it may appear that Dennis Magee of the Pala Band of Mission Indians was destined to lead North San Diego County Indian Country into a nine-Tribe consortium dedicated to improving the health, longevity, and wellbeing of the community and to exerting greater Tribal control over the ways in which healthcare is delivered to community members.
But sometimes the most significant turning points in life begin quietly with one seemingly isolated decision. That is the case with Dennis, whose boundless passion and energy changed the landscape of healthcare in our community. Upon his retirement in 1999, he revealed that foundational decision: “I moved back to Pala in 1966 to live with and take care of my aging grandfather.”
Dennis became a powerful driving force propelling the Incorporation of IHC on January 19, 1970, and its continuing evolution into a state-of-the-art healthcare organization with health centers on Rincon and Santa Ysabel employing more than 160 skilled professionals and serving 15,000 patients, from neonatal to geriatric.
Dennis was the last surviving original Incorporator. He was preceded in death by Frank Mazzetti, Rincon; Dorothy Arviso Gonzales, Rincon; Florence Lofton, Pauma; and Robert Lofton, La Jolla. Despite his unpretentious title of Administrator, Dennis was so much more. Just as Robert F. Kennedy’s legacy helped make IHC a reality, Dennis Magee’s legacy lives on today in every community member who walks through our doors seeking exceptional-quality, culturally-relevant, patient-centered care and caring.
We are pleased to share highlights of this esteemed man’s life with you.
Goal Setter and Promise Keeper
Goals were always a priority for Dennis Magee. As a standout football player, he made them. As Indian Health Council’s visionary founder and inaugural leader, striving to establish a program and a facility where nothing had existed previously, he set them. As a transformational force behind the expansion of programs and services to the Native American population in San Diego County and throughout California, he reached them.
As he retired in 1999 and now as he has departed from this Earth, he set a high bar for all of us at IHC, who honor his legacy by continuing to pursue ambitious goals to promote health, healing and wellbeing.
Dennis was born on the Pala Reservation and grew up in National City. After graduating from Sweetwater High School, he enrolled at San Diego Junior College, where he was a football star; elected captain, voted “Most Valuable Player,” and named to the JC All-American Football Team.
Upon completing eligibility for a four-year institution, Dennis received offers from Washington State, Cal, and UCLA. His goal, however, was to center the ball for his brother Don, who was the captain and quarterback at San Diego State University. While attaining his 1961 degree in Business Administration, Dennis excelled at football. He was elected captain, won “Outstanding Lineman of the Year,” and was named to the All Conference team.
A chronic knee injury cut Dennis’ pro football career short, but he enjoyed many years playing minor league football while making sports and business contacts that would ultimately benefit IHC.
As Aztecs, Dennis centered the football to his brother, Don.
The Architect of IHC
Dennis testifying before the U.S. Congressional Appropriations Committee.
It is fitting that the Administration wing of our modern, 51,000-square foot Rincon Health Center that opened in 2000 is dedicated to Dennis Magee.
Dennis was the “architect” who envisioned the reality of an actual clinic long before the initial facility was built in 1976, thanks to his aggressive fundraising efforts. His connections and commitment captured the hearts and wallets of movers and shakers, galvanizing an effort that would lead not only to IHC but also to the establishment of Southern Indian Health Council.
Dennis annually testified before U.S. Congressional Appropriations Committees for some 30 years, pursuing health funds for all California Indians. In addition, he helped achieve two important firsts: he worked with State Senator George Moscone in introducing SB52 to provide state funds for Indian health programs in California, and obtained the first-ever Indian Health Service Supplemental Appropriation in California requested by an Indian health program.
Decades later, when reminded of his multifaceted efforts that got the ball rolling and kept IHC going and growing, Dennis quipped, “I don’t know how in the hell I did it.”
A Man of Action, a Man of Eloquence, a Man of his People
Abysmal is an understated description of residents’ health status throughout North County Reservations in the late 1960s. Sanitary conditions were appalling; many people lacked electricity, an inside toilet or a car. Premature death was a constant, unwelcome visitor to these rural islands of poverty. Government funds to improve conditions were virtually nonexistent.
Tribal leaders determined to “be the change” and act boldly. They turned to Dennis Magee, believing his education could benefit his people. Dennis recalled, “Robert Lavato brought me to a committee meeting. Instead of introducing me as a guest, he introduced me as a new delegate.” Dennis would meet that moment, and many others to come, as he departed from his position with San Diego-based Wholesaler Kroshel Industries and devoted himself full-time to the challenge.
In 1968, using a miniscule amount of California State Health Department seed money, representatives of Pala, Pauma, La Jolla and Rincon Reservations joined to form the California Rural Indian Health Demonstration Project. Funding covered a part-time coordinator and two outreach workers who provided information, referrals, appointments, and transportation to off-reservation doctors and dentists.
In 1969, the Project lost its funding and was forced to close. With Dennis at the helm, leaders forged ahead. After incorporating to establish Indian Health Council, Inc., on January 19, 1970, they surveyed residents and presented results so devastating (one woman showed a survey-taker an irrigation pipe she had installed in her shack’s kitchen window connecting to a creek, saying, “Yes, I have running water”), they captured the attention of Indian Health Service, which provided funding for IHC to open a tiny office in Pauma.
The office housed Administrator Dennis Magee and three outreach workers. Volunteer specialists joined the effort. As minimal funding continued, a small site on Rincon Reservation was acquired. Thanks to Indian labor, old donated dental equipment and volunteer dentists, a weekend clinic was born.
The Kennedy Connection
An inflection point came in 1970 when Dennis became one of 38 individuals nationwide to serve as a Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Fellow, chosen for their commitment to building a better world. Dennis’ selection was based on his dedication to improving an area of isolation, poverty and poor health, but his selection by RFK’s widow, Ethel Kennedy, who established the Memorial, was intentional.
Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall was supposed to be Dennis’ mentor. Ethel and Dennis connected over their mutual passion for football and humanity at a Fellows reception at her Hickory Hills home, so she asked Udall to swap and became Dennis’ mentor.
Thus began a productive, warm friendship. Dennis invited Ethel to visit the fledgling clinic, where volunteer dentists provided weekend services. Her visit attracted massive media coverage and helped kick off fundraising efforts for the “real” medical and dental facility the Board presciently recognized was needed.
Kennedy family visits continued over the next several years. They were cordial and casual, Dennis said, remembering how her kids would scamper barefoot into his house, making themselves at home and foraging in the fridge for milk.
The ball really got rolling in 1971 when Dennis’ friend, San Diego Chargers quarterback John Hadl, sponsored a celebrity golf tournament and banquet attended by the Chargers players and owner, San Diego mayor and other officials. The event raised $9,000 and put North County Indian Country on the map and the Rincon clinic on its way to reality.
To build on that success, Dennis recalled, “I used my imagination, giving speeches to civic clubs, church groups, foundations, unions, schools and corporations.” He was unstoppable. Two days after enduring knee surgery and on crutches, Dennis determined to keep an appointment with a Santa Barbara women’s club, so IHC nurse Esther Calac drove him there. Two weeks later, the club sent a check for $10,000.
In 1976, the 5,000 square-foot IHC facility on Rincon Reservation opened. Among the attendees were two of RFK’s children, Robert Jr. and Courtney.
Like RFK and his brother, JFK, Dennis Magee was a man of action, and eloquence; and always a man of his people. In 1999, as he closed out his illustrious career, Dennis looked back on 30 years of accomplishments and forward to an ever brighter and healthier future for his people. His words are reflected in everything we do at IHC, every day.
He ended his tenure with these words: “The work goes on. The cause continues. The hope still lives. And the dream shall never die.”
Dennis flanked by Ted and Ethel Kennedy at Ethel's Hickory Hill home, where he often visited. She, in turn, visited him and his family on Pala. He introduced her to her very first taco at a little Mexican eatery in Escondido!
Board Chair Rose Hatfield and Administrator Dennis Magee welcomed (Indigenous) Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye and others to IHC in 1989. The Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs proclaimed, “I have traveled throughout the U.S. visiting numerous clinics, and IHC is by far the finest health facility I have seen!”
The Measure of a Man's Life
He dined in New York in 1972 with Ethel’s son Joe Kennedy, the Beatles’ John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono to discuss a possible benefit concert, recounting, “Everyone was asking John and Yoko for their autographs. Since I was with them, fans figured I must be ‘somebody’ too, so I signed autographs along with the Lennons.” He met three U.S. presidents and world leaders such as Africa’s Nelson Mandela and England’s Margaret Thatcher. He became a consummate public speaker often seen on TV and quoted in the press, and was even courted for prominent political positions (which he declined). Yet Dennis always managed to live his life well-grounded in his Native American culture.
He once explained, “I’ve been asked many times, ‘Did you ever forget you were an Indian?’ I always replied, “No.”
He continued, “One weekend I attended a tennis tournament in NYC for the RFK Memorial. All the stars were there, from Jane Fonda to Clint Eastwood. I held Muhammad Ali’s baby and sat between Ethel Kennedy and Jackie Onassis watching Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rosie Greer play doubles against Ted Kennedy and Vice President Walter Mondale. Later, I was talking with Diana Ross when Bill Cosby bumped into me, spilling my drink on her. On Sunday, I caught a red-eye to San Diego and headed to Mexico to watch the bullfights. Then, I returned home where I sat on a log under a full moon watching an Indian hand game called Peon being played on the Pechanga Reservation. No one there knew where I’d been, what I did, or who I was with that weekend.”
He concluded, “No, I would never forget who and what I am.”
Dennis Magee: Changemaker and Humanitarian
Dennis Magee at his retirement celebration in 1999.
Dennis Magee was the son of Raymond Milton Magee and Prudence Theresa Magee (née Golsh). He was preceded in death by his brothers Donny and Raymond (Juggy) and sister Adele. Among his survivors are 13 nieces and nephews: Wayne, Joanne, Coreen, and Courtney Nelson; Susan Subish; Barbara Hutton; Stacy Magee; Darcy Danielle; and Donny Jr. (deceased), Conner, Mary, Shannon, and Bobbie Magee.
Joanne, Coreen and Courtney are longtime IHC employees. Joanne notes, “Coreen, Courtney, Wayne, myself and his great nieces and great nephew Daniel cared for him.”
Growing up next door to Dennis, the four Nelson kids looked upon their beloved uncle as their “second father,” says Coreen. “We always spent Father’s Day with him. He taught us life lessons. He was always there for us. It was an honor to have him in our life.”
Other longtime employees, many from the consortium community IHC serves, say they felt a strong “family” bond with Dennis, whom they praise as not only a great boss, but a person they admired and respected.
Business Operations colleagues Virginia Robbin (Los Coyotes) and Darlene Garcia (Rincon) stress that Dennis cared deeply about his employees. Virginia, who joined IHC in 1986, recalls, “Dennis would always help us get ahead in our career and encourage us to better ourselves. He stood behind his employees and he was always there for his people and the community.” Darlene, who joined IHC in 1992, agrees, saying, “Dennis was determined to help his people. He lobbied for us, even with the federal government in Washington, DC. He did not stop as he pursued his goals. His heart was always with his people.”
Robert Smith, IHC Board Chair, Pala Band of Mission Indians
“Dennis Magee was a vital member of the IHC team, and an important advocate for the health and well-being of local Native American communities. Dennis’ efforts made a huge difference in the lives of so many individuals and will continue to positively impact generations to come. He was a wonderful leader and a great person to know and work with. He will be greatly missed.”
Mark LeBeau, PhD (Citizen of Pit River Nation), CEO, California Rural Indian health Board (CRIHB)
“A founding CRIHB Board member, Dennis (top row, second from right) was an outstanding leader and innovator of Tribal health services in California. He improved the health and wellbeing of Indian people and Tribes. Dennis shared with the Indian communities of California decades of hard work, tenaciousness, and dedication. He will be greatly missed and fondly remembered. This picture hangs on the wall in our conference hall as inspiration.”
Brother Donny Magee, at Dennis' 1999 Retirement
“Dennis has always been active in support of what he believes in. As his brother, I’m proud of what he accomplished.”
Accomplishments and Accolades
During his career, Dennis was actively involved in diverse organizations and amassed an incredible number of awards. Here are a select few:
MEMBERSHIP
Board Chairman, California Rural Indian Health Board
Board of Trustees, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial
Member, San Diego Citizens Equal Opportunity Commission
Board of Directors, San Diego County United Way
Chairman, Native American Training Associates
Member, San Diego State University Athletic Foundation
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Listed in six Who's Who publications, including the World Who's Who Hall of Fame from the prestigious International Biographic Center
Director's Award of Excellence, U.S. Indian Health Service
Distinguished Service Award, U.S. Health and Human Services
"North County Man of the Year," Northern San Diego County Associated Chambers of Commerce
Commendation for Distinguished Community Service, National Indian Health Board
VIDEO: Dennis Magee and Orvin Hanson reflect on 50 years of Empowering Native Wellness at Indian Health Council.