Dr. Robert Gumbiner, who founded one of the country’s first HMOs, FHP International Corp, and launched Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, has died at age 85.

Gumbiner’s began medical career as a practicing physician in 1949 and opened a practice in Lakewood in 1954. Three years later, he started a medical group. Gumbiner used that 10-doctor group to experiment with the concept of group practice prepayment coverage , the forerunner of health maintenance organizations. The group evolved into FHP Health Care, later known as FHP International Corp.

Gumbiner left the FHP board in 1996 and began work on MoLAA, transforming what once was a roller skating rink and a silent movie studio into a major art museum focusing specifically on Latin American Art.

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