Sandra Harmon-Weiss, retired family physician, award-winning Temple trustee, and former Aetna vice president, has died at 81

Sandra Harmon-Weiss, 81, of Cape May Court House, retired family physician; award-winning trustee, board member, and former clinical assistant professor of family medicine at Temple University; former vice president and head of government programs for Aetna Inc.; volunteer; and mentor to many, died Friday, Jan. 3, of cancer at her home.

A native of Norristown and longtime resident of Avalon, N.J., and Cape May Court House, Dr. Harmon-Weiss was what her academic colleagues called “Temple Made.” She worked days as a Temple lab tech while earning a bachelor’s degree at Temple in 1971 and graduated from what is now Temple’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine in 1974.

She went on to become a member, vice chair, and chair of many Temple committees and boards, including the university board of trustees. She was an expert on family-practice medicine and health insurance, and Temple president John Fry said in a tribute: “Her breadth of knowledge and perspective on health care matters made her an invaluable voice in every role that she held.”

She also chaired boards for Temple University Hospital and Temple University Health System. Earlier, from 1978 to 1984, she was a clinical assistant professor in Temple’s Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.

“Her passion for the institution’s success was clear in every role she undertook,” Michael Young, chief executive officer of Temple Health System, said in a tribute. “She was an extraordinary person and a brilliant colleague.”

She championed educational and vocational variety — she went to three colleges and worked in health care, academia, and the corporate world — and she praised Temple as a “smorgasbord of educational opportunity.”

“She was an accomplished physician and executive but also such a warm, kind person, which was one of the first things I noticed upon meeting her.”

“My classmates and I were a new generation of medical students, young and idealistic,” she said in a profile she wrote for a Temple publication. “We needed to get to know ourselves before we could minister to others.”

Her work was recognized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the federal Health Care Financing Administration. She was inducted into Temple’s Gallery of Success and earned School of Medicine alumni awards in 2009 and 2015. She also established the Emma C. Weiss Memorial Scholarship at Temple for primary-care medical students.

In 1976, Dr. Harmon-Weiss earned a Mead Johnson Award for her family-practice residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. She practiced privately in Conshohocken for a decade in the 1970s and ’80s, and simultaneously was assistant director of the Family Practice Center at what was then Abington Memorial Hospital.

She joined U.S. Healthcare Inc., now Aetna Inc., in the late 1980s and rose to vice president and director of government programs. She spoke on medical issues at congressional hearings and worked on projects with federal departments, the National Institutes of Health, the American Geriatrics Society, and other organizations.

“It was clear to me that I needed to move forward with my formal education, so I became a Temple Owl in the true sense, attending classes at night to complete my undergraduate degree.”

In online tributes, colleagues called her “intelligent and insightful“ and “the best mentor, teacher, communication coach, and patient and caregiver advocate I’ve had the privilege to work with.” A longtime friend said: “Sandy was always able to reason any issue to a good conclusion.”

She was also one of the first doctors to be featured in a TV commercial and print ad for U.S. Healthcare. “She was an extrovert. She had a force of will,” said her daughter, Jennifer Sekerka. “When she put her mind to it, she did it.”

Sandra Gay Rhoads was born Feb. 23, 1943. She earned a prestigious science award and played tennis and field hockey at Norristown Area High School, and was later inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame. She attended Antioch College and Ohio Northern University before finishing at Temple.

She married Bruce Harmon, and they had a daughter, Jennifer. After a divorce, she married Frederick Lytel. After his death, she married Richard Weiss. He died in 2021.

Dr. Harmon-Weiss and her husband collected antiques and art, and enjoyed entertaining family and friends. She was active at the Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library, and supported Temple athletics and all kinds of alumni efforts.

Her daughter said: “She always wanted to make things better.”

In addition to her daughter, Dr. Harmon-Weiss is survived by a sister, a half brother, and other relatives. A sister died earlier.

A celebration of her life is to be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 9425 Third Ave., Stone Harbor, N.J. 08247.

Donations in her name may be made to the Emma C. Weiss Memorial Scholarship, Conwell Hall, Seventh Floor, 1801 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19122.