in 2005 he left riker danzig, where he had become a senior partner and the firm's co-manager, to take over as president and chief executive officer of cooper university hospital in camden. he and the chairman of the hospital's board, george norcross, a leading democratic figure in south jersey, worked together to use their political connections and knowledge to secure favorable rulings from regulators and public financing in support of cooper's expansion plans. several years later, this led to the merger with the md anderson cancer center and the opening of the only four-year medical school in south jersey, cooper medical school of rowan university.