Ivo Pitanguy, Brazilian plastic surgeon, Died at 90

  Health care

Ivo Hélcio Jardim de Campos Pitanguy was born on July 5, 1926, and died on August 6, 2016.

He was a plastic surgeon based in Rio de Janeiro.

He received his education at the Bethesda North Hospital in Cincinnati, where he worked with John Longacre.

Immediately after, he went to France and England where he studied plastic surgery.

During 1953 Ivo started working at a Brazilian hospital.

A burning circus tent fell on 2,500 spectators in the Brazilian city of Niterói, on December 17, 1961.

Ivo Pitanguy treated burn victims for weeks on an emergency basis.

He later referred to the event as life changing, as it taught him that for many, physical appearance was critical to living.

Ivo founded a private clinic called Clínica Ivo Pitanguy in the Botafogo section of Rio de Janeiro where he operated on clients and trained surgeons.

Ivo Pitanguy was also a philanthropist. He renovated a ward at the public Santa Casa da Misericórdia Hospital in Rio where, for four decades, he offered free treatment.

He was a member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras and of the Academia Nacional de Medicina.

Now, The Pitanguy clinic in Rio also includes an auditorium and library for Pitanguy’s lectures and writings for medical students.

Ivo Pitanguy passed away at 90 years old.