Mason City native Colloton, who led UI hospitals to be premier medical center, has died

IOWA CITY — A Mason City native who went on to establish the University of Iowa’s hospital as one of the world’s premier medical centers has died.

John Colloton was born in February 1931, the third of five children, his parents being the grandchildren of Irish immigrants. Colloton graduated from Loras College in 1953, and after a two-year stint in the United States Army, he used the GI Bill to earn a master’s degree in hospital administration at the University of Iowa in 1957.

Colloton steadily moved up the administrative ladder at the UI Hospitals, and by the time he became director in 1971, he was highly experienced in hospital management. Over the next two decades, Colloton oversaw the construction of more than $500 million in new patient care facilities, all without state funding for construction and capital improvement costs.

In 1993, he transitioned to become the UI’s vice president for statewide health services, allowing him to focus on health care reform and related health policy issues that affected the university, the state, and academic medicine in general.

The University of Iowa says Colloton died on Friday at his home in Iowa City.