Boston Scientific Remembers Cofounder Pete Nicholas, 1941-2022

June 20, 2022—In an extensive online tribute, Boston Scientific Corporation announced the death of Peter M. “Pete” Nicholas, the company’s cofounder and the CEO from 1979 to 1999. After turning over his CEO duties in 1999, Mr. Nicholas retained an active role at Boston Scientific as Chairman of the Board until stepping down in 2016. Mr. Nicholas passed away peacefully on May 14, 2022, a few days before his 81st birthday, at his home in Boca Grande, Florida. He is survived by Ginny, his wife of 58 years, and their three children.

Boston Scientific Chairman and CEO Mike Mahoney commented in the tribute, “As a pioneer who helped shape the field of minimally invasive surgery, Pete Nicholas is remembered worldwide for his contribution to vastly improved patient outcomes and equally impressive increases in health care efficiency. Within the Boston Scientific family, Pete was also a lifelong mentor, motivator, and friend to hundreds of employees.”

The company’s tribute stated, “Pete was an avid sailor, former lieutenant in the United States Navy, and beloved helmsman and career navigator to two generations of his Boston Scientific family of leaders and coworkers.”

It continued, “A dealmaker and entrepreneurial risk-taker, Pete and Cofounder John Abele built Boston Scientific from a startup in 1979 with fewer than 50 employees and financed with a $500,000 loan and $300,000 in partners’ capital into a global industry leader with 27,000 employees and $8.4 billion in revenue in 2016.”

In addition to his company and industry achievement, the tribute noted, “Pete was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Vice Chairman of its Academy Trust. He was a member of the American Academy of Achievement as well. He received the Phoenix Lifetime Achievement Award for distinguished leadership and accomplishment in the medical device industry. Pete was a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and served on several nonprofit and for-profit boards. A former chairman of the Duke University Board of Trustees, he also founded the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke and the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy and Solutions. Pete also received the Joseph Wharton Lifetime Achievement Award for distinguished Wharton alumni.”

An obituary published online in Duke Today, the university’s news journal, noted that in addition to Pete and Ginny, their three children—Katherine, Peter, and J.K.—and granddaughter Katherine all earned degrees from Duke. Another granddaughter, Anna, is a current Duke student.

Among many other remembrances, an obituary was published in The Wall Street Journal and his hometown Boca Beacon.