Mortimer J. Buckley’s Early life and education
Mortimer J. Buckley was born on 26 April 1969 in Massachusetts, U.S. He is an American business executive who was the chief executive officer of The Vanguard Group between 2018 and 2024. He is the son of Mortimer John Buckley and Marilyn Buckley. His father, the Chief of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cardiac Surgical Unit, was a devout Catholic from an Irish immigrant family who raised his children in the Catholic faith. Buckley attended secondary school at the Belmont Hill School in Belmont Massachusetts. In 1991, he earned a BA degree in economics from Harvard College. In 1996, he earned an MBA degree from Harvard Business School.
Mortimer J. Buckley’s successful career
In 1991, Buckley joined Vanguard as an assistant to company founder John C. Bogle. From 2001 to 2006, Buckley was a Chief Information Officer, and from 2006 to 2012, he was head of the Retail Investor Group. He became Chief Investment Officer when Gus Sauter retired in 2013. In 2017, Vanguard’s Board of Directors unanimously elected Buckley to succeed F. William McNabb III as Chief Executive Officer, effective in January 2018. In February 2024, it was announced that Buckley would step down as CEO by the end of 2024, ending a 33-year career at Vanguard. Salim Ramji succeeded him in July 2024. Here we will discuss his father’s successful career.
Mortimer J. Buckley’s father, Dr. Mortimer J. Buckley
Dr. Mortimer J. Buckley, former chief of cardiac surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, died Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007, after a valiant fight against multiple myeloma. Dr. Buckley served as chief of the Cardiac Surgery Unit at MGH for almost 30 years, during which he enjoyed a distinguished career as Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, and recipient of the American Heart Association’s prestigious Paul Dudley White Award. Dr. Buckley was a pioneer who helped guide the rapid evolution of cardiac surgery as a specialty, including the development and clinical application of the intra-aortic balloon pump, a contribution that has made cardiac surgery a safer procedure throughout the world. In addition to his work in coronary artery disease and valvular heart disease, Dr. Buckley developed critical techniques to correct congenital heart defects in children. He was one of the first surgeons to apply deep hypothermia during cardiovascular surgery on infants, allowing for the complete correction of complex defects for the first time.
Dr. Buckley, however, considered his greatest career achievement to be the residents he taught to become skilled surgeons. One of the architects of an extraordinarily successful cardiac surgical residency program at MGH, Dr. Buckley influenced and inspired innumerable surgeons’ careers. Over 70 cardiac surgeons were graduates of his training program, many of whom went on to be professors and Chiefs of their training programs in cardiac surgery.
As a surgeon, Dr. Buckley combined innate intelligence, a prodigious memory, technical facility, tenacity in the care of patients, an unbelievable work ethic, and absolute dedication to teaching.
