Jorge Kostianovsky, dedicated physician, artist, and booming baritone, has died at 95

Jorge Kostianovsky, 95, of Philadelphia, dedicated physician, booming baritone, and abstract artist, died Monday, Oct. 24, of a heart attack at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Dr. Kostianovsky was born in Argentina, worked as a general physician in Israel, and later practiced psychiatry in St. Louis and Moorestown. His family called him a Renaissance man, and, indeed, he played piano, sang Italian opera, painted abstracts, sailed the seas, and ministered to countless patients over five decades.

His daughter, Debbie, said: “He was always looking for something meaningful to do.” In a tribute, his family said: “He had a gift and passion to help others.”

Dr. Kostianovsky earned a medical degree from Argentina’s Universidad Nacional del Litoral in Rosario in 1959 and, with Mery, his wife of 65 years, saw a need and cared for people in the desert towns of southern Israel. They moved to St. Louis in the mid-1960s, and he studied psychiatry at Washington University and opened a practice with a partner.

They relocated to Moorestown in 1975, and he specialized in child and adolescent psychiatry and worked for years in private practice and for Burlington County and local schools. He counseled students, evaluated prisoners and patients of all kinds for the county, and saw others privately.

His daughter became a psychiatrist, too, and they bonded over shared experiences and meaningful conversations. He was good, she said, at “caring about both the larger picture as well as the silly stuff.”

Born into a musical family, Dr. Kostianovsky was a stirring baritone throughout his life and trained at a world-class opera house in Buenos Aires as a young man. Although he focused on medicine later, he never stopped playing piano and singing, and friends and family delighted in rousing performances of his favorite arias and songs.

“You made the room shake and had the audience mesmerized,” his daughter said.

He started painting classes in 2000 and produced dozens of abstract pieces. He even took requests and created a Mark Rothko-like work for his daughter. He retired from medicine in 2010.

“He found it extremely satisfying to provide care and healing to others,” his family said.

Born Sept. 11, 1927, in Concordia, Argentina, Dr. Kostianovsky trained his voice in Buenos Aires even after starting medical school three hours away in Rosario because his father lovingly drove him back and forth until he died in 1948.

Dr. Kostianovsky married Mery Meilijzon, a pathologist, in 1957. They had daughter Debbie and lived in Israel for a few years, St. Louis for a decade, Moorestown for 18 years, and finally Rittenhouse Square since 1993.

He made friends easily and oversaw his large Argentine clan in St. Louis and Philadelphia. He supported the Philadelphia Orchestra and Opera Philadelphia and thrilled his daughter one night with tickets to Madame Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

He liked to sail Barnegat Bay and tinker in the yard at Long Beach Island. He had a colossal collection of colorful wool sweaters, drove fast, played silly pranks on people, and was self-reliant for as long as possible.

He doted on his wife and daughter, and gave Adam Schneider, his future son-in-law, a good going-over when they first met. His grandson, Zak Schneider, called him Abu because he couldn’t pronounce abuelo, Spanish for grandfather.

Even when times got tough, Dr. Kostianovsky pressed on. Always, Adam Schneider said, “the bright smile and twinkle in his blue eyes would return.”

“I was so proud to be your daughter,” Debbie Kostianovsky said. “I always wanted to be like you.”

In addition to his wife, daughter, grandson, and son-in-law, Dr. Kostianovsky is survived by a sister and other relatives. Two brothers died earlier.

Services were Oct. 30.

Donations in his name may be made to the Philadelphia Orchestra, 1 S. Broad St., 14th Floor, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107, and Opera Philadelphia, 1420 Locust St., Suite 210, Philadelphia, Pa. 19102.