Michael V. Aureli, the former Catholic priest who led Arkansas Hospice as president and CEO almost from its inception, died Tuesday. He was 61.

In 2003, he was named the , and Arkansas Hospice was the Nonprofit Organization of the Year in 2005.

Aureli served as the president of the Hospice & Palliative Care Association of Arkansas.

Visitation with his family will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Cathedral of St. Andrew, 617 Louisiana St. in Little Rock, followed by a vigil service at 7 p.m. and a devotional rosary at 9 p.m. A funeral and mass of Christian burial will be at the Cathedral at 10 a.m. on Friday  with burial immediately following in Calvary Cemetery in Little Rock.

Aureli was born in Pine Bluff and graduated from Pine Bluff High School in 1968. He earned a B.A. in philosophy and a master’s of divinity from the University of Dallas, then was ordained a Catholic priest in 1976 and served parishes in North Little Rock, Little Rock and England .

He began a second career in health care in 1991, and was hired in 1994 as assistant administrator for what became Arkansas Hospice. He became its president and CEO in 1995, and in 2000 opened the first inpatient hospice program in Arkansas.

He also served on the committee of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Association.

Aureli is survived by his wife of 18 years, Sharon Kay Aureli, two brothers, two sisters and a stepdaughter.

The family asks that memorials be sent to the Michael V. Aureli Arkansas Hospice Perpetual Endowment Fund, care of the Arkansas Hospice Foundation, 14 Parkstone Circle, North Little Rock 72116.

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