STERLING – CGH Medical Center’s chief operating officer, Norm Deets, is stepping down Sept. 4 after more than 30 years at the hospital to “focus on other endeavors and to pursue his love for agriculture,” the hospital said Monday.

Deets, 55, who began his career with the city CGH in 1982, has managed a majority of its departments, the news release said.

“This was a difficult decision for me,” Deets said. “I have truly enjoyed working with CGH’s outstanding administration, physicians, employees and volunteers who care for our patients and the community every day.”

The search for his replacement has not yet started, Ed Andersen, CGH’s outgoing president and CEO, said in an email.

“Dr. Paul Steinke, incoming CEO, and I are meeting with a few board members to review the organizational chart and work on some restructuring in the interim,” Andersen said. “The search process will begin soon.”

Deets is credited with building Rock River Health, a physicians’ consortium, to 17 providers; developing and recruiting physicians for CGH family practice clinics in Prophetstown, Milledgeville, Polo and Sterling; buying the majority of the property on which the hospital sits and the property north of First Avenue; and launching CGH Home Nursing Services and CGH Helping Hands Daycare.

He was also responsible for developing and planning the emergency department/lab addition in 1991 and the north wing addition in 2008, the release said.

“He has been instrumental in CGH’s success, and we have benefited greatly from his leadership,” Andersen said in the release.

Andersen, too, is stepping down, effective Jan. 4. He will remain as an adviser to the hospital board for 2 years after his retirement.

Deets also is president of the Rock Falls Community Development Corp. board, and has served on the boards of Sinnissippi Centers, the Sterling-Rock Falls YMCA, the Polo School Board, the Northern Illinois Cancer Treatment Center and Home of Hope.

He also operates his family’s farm, which produces corn, soybeans and alfalfa just east of Milledgeville.

“Norm has always been a rock in the foundation of CGH,” said LuAnn Meyer, CGH home nursing director.

“He has been behind much of our organization’s success, quietly doing what is needed, while always placing an emphasis on serving those that he leads. He will be greatly missed.”