A meticulous worker and clever humorist, John “Pat” Sheehan, a managing director in Wells Fargo Securities’ healthcare public finance team, died Saturday. He was 54.
Sheehan, a 25-year veteran in the healthcare space, died when the livery car he was riding in was hit by an SUV that hurtled across the median on the Hutchinson River Parkway in the Bronx.
A native of West Chester, Pennsylvania, Sheehan had worked at Wells Fargo since June 2010. Prior to that, Sheehan worked at various firms in financial services, including Citigroup Global Markets, JPMorgan, and Lehman Brothers. Sheehan was brought to Wells Fargo by friend and fellow manager Peter Hill.
“Pat was a classic renaissance man,” Hill, managing director and head of Wells Fargo’s U.S. public finance team, said in an interview. “He had all the attributes you want. He was intellectual, sharp, had a great sense of humor and was a great family man.”
Sheehan and Hill became friends and co-workers when Sheehan was hired at JPMorgan in 1994. Coming off a merger with Wachovia National Bank, Wells Fargo’s public finance was still a young business despite huge amounts of capital and national scope when Sheehan came aboard, Hill said. The opportunity to carve a new path from square one lured Sheehan, who held curiosity and learning in high esteem.
While his longest stint was at JPMorgan, where he worked from 1994 to 2003, Sheehan worked with many of the large and more prominent health care institutions in the U.S., including Geisinger Health System, Partners HealthCare and Intermountain Healthcare, Hill said.
“Pat has been a trusted advisor to Geisinger for many years,” Glenn Steele, Jr., president and chief executive officer of Geisinger Health System, said in an emailed statement. “He has deftly assisted our charitable mission by bringing intelligence, integrity and perspective to many complex transactions. He will be missed and warmly remembered for years to come.”
Sheehan blended a command to detail with the ability to communicate the big picture to clients, colleagues said. Hill noted that when leaving a daily update voicemail, Sheehan would often record multiple takes to get the right pitch and intonation.
“He was the consummate gentleman and professional banker,” Hill said. “He was intellectual, sharp, gracious and humble. An avid student of history, he’d seldom go on a client visit without stopping to visit a battlefield or legislative session.”
At his alma mater, Georgetown University, where he earned a scholarship, Sheehan danced on sporting event sidelines as the school’s bulldog mascot, the first student to take a role that originally belonged to live dogs, Hill said.
In addition to his wife, Rebecca and three sons, George, Thaddeus and Nathaniel, Sheehan is survived by his brother, Tim, and his sisters, Margot and Barat.
Visitation hours are from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Larchmont, NY. The funeral service will be held at St. John’s at 11:00 a.m. Thursday morning.
