NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Financial documents show six men at the city’s biggest hospital collected over $7.5 million from the non-profit organization and related entities in 2018 alone.

That year, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) paid its CEO John Gantner more than $2 million, and paid five other men at least $1 million each for their services.

Gantner’s total take in 2018 was $2,173,508‬, likely making him the highest-paid employee of any non-profit organization in New Brunswick.

The other staffers paid in excess of $500,000 that year were:

  • Robert G. Irwin – $1,119,246
  • Michael Antoniades – $1,079,115
  • Martin S. Everhart – $1,077,345‬
  • Joshua M. Bershad – $1,045,063‬
  • Richard Freeman – $1,018,169‬
  • Lori A. Colineri $790,333
  • Anthony Cava $725,307‬
  • Stephen K. Jones $716,979
  • Michael Knecht $670,455‬
  • Dory B. Altmann $648,491‬
  • Richard Imbibo $620,391
  • ‬Lester G. Cottle $613,661‬
  • Maureen Bueno $587,247‬
  • Jessie Tucker III $514,468

In recent years, the Brunswick-based hospital has grown, merged, and partnered with others around the state. In 2016, a mega-merger between RWJ’s “healthcare system” and St. Barnabas’ made the conglomerate the largest of its kind in New Jersey.

The newly-merged entity initially attempted to keep secret the identities of its board members, until New Brunswick Today revealed them in an article.

The state’s largest private-sector employer, with about 33,000 workers, the system has “a service area covering nine counties with five million people,” according to their website.

The earnings figures were compiled from the organization’s 2018 “990” form, a document that tax-exempt organizations must file with the federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The forms are due to the IRS on May 15 of the following year, so 2018’s forms are the latest that are available to the public.

The documents do not include compensation information for many of the officials who work for Barnabas Health Inc., where some officials are paid even more than New Brunswick’s million dollar men.

According to 2017 records from that corporation, CEO Barry Ostrowsky and then-COO Gerald “Jay” Picerno were paid in excess of $5 million. Picerno was terminated in November of that year, shortly after his arrest on charges of lewdness and indecent exposure.

Below are the New Brunswick entity’s 2018 “990” form and financial statements from their auditors, Withum, Smith & Brown.

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Editor at New Brunswick Today | 732-993-9697 | editor@newbrunswicktoday.com | Website

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.