Pediatrician who treated kids with compassion and humor
Known for his wacky neckties and easy manner, Robert Argentine Jr. was a gifted pediatrician with a sense of humor.
“He had a goofiness about him,” said Dr. Argentine’s brother, Peter Argentine, of Mt. Lebanon. “He would break into old movie references and funny voices and he always kept a Godzilla on his desk.”
Dr. Argentine — “Arge” to friends — spent 38 years caring for children at the Children’s Community Pediatrics network in the South Hills before he reluctantly retired in 2017 due to health problems.
“He certainly had a tremendous impact on a lot of lives,” said his longtime business partner and friend, Dr. Chuck Silverstein.
Dr. Argentine, 68, died at his home in Peters on Tuesday of heart problems and renal disease.
His interest in pediatrics was sparked as a young boy, when he was a patient of Dr. Robert MacDonald, the man who would later become his mentor and partner.
“He saw Dr. MacDonald when he was 5 years old and knew right away he wanted to be a pediatrician,” his brother recalled. “He had a toy medicine bag and everything.”
Dr. Argentine grew up in Dormont and graduated in 1968 from South Hills Catholic High School before earning a bachelor’s degree from LaSalle University.
He received his medical degree from the Penn State University College of Medicine in 1976 and served as a resident at Children’s Hospital for several years before joining Dr. MacDonald’s practice in 1979.
Because Dr. Argentine was a grandson of Italian immigrants, his graduation from medical school was a momentous occasion for his family, his brother recalled.
“When he graduated, all of our extended family came. My dad was crying,” Peter Argentine said. “It was such a huge deal to have a doctor in the family.”
During his residency at Children’s Hospital, Dr. Argentine met nurse Priscilla Korn, who asked him out on a date. They married in November 1978, and Mrs. Argentine later joined the pediatric practice as a triage nurse.
“He fell in love right away,” said his brother, noting Dr. Argentine often called his wife “his Polaris” — or guide star.
Dr. Silverstein was a firstyear intern at Children’s in 1977 when he met Dr. Argentine.
“He was a year ahead of me as a pediatric resident and was essentially my supervisor,” he said. “He was knowledgeable and easy to ask questions of, and he didn’t talk down to you.”
The two became fast friends and reconnected several years later when Dr. Silverstein was studying and working in Washington, D. C.
“Arge was in Washington at a conference in the spring of 1981, so we had lunch, and he said that his partner Dr. MacDonald was retiring and he didn’t know if he could handle it all himself,” Dr. Silverstein recalled. “A light bulb went on in my head as I was sitting there talking to him.”
Dr. Silverstein joined the practice several months later and continues to work at its offices in Bethel Park and Peters.
They complemented each other well, Dr. Silverstein remembered.
“He was an astute clinician and, unlike me, he had very good business sense,” he said. “I was fortunate — he was a very easy guy to work with.”
With just two doctors, one of them was always on call and they had myriad responsibilities.
“We had full- time office hours and also had to visit newborns at various hospitals, along with seeing patients we might have in the hospital,” Dr. Silverstein said. “And any time an emergency came up at a hospital, we had to drop everything and take off.”
“It was a tough life, but he loved being a pediatrician. He thought of it as a calling,” said Peter Argentine, who recalled the time his brother spent the night at his home treating his young son when he had croup.
The pediatric practice, which grew with the hiring of two additional doctors, was approached about 20 years ago by UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh when it began developing a network of local doctors to form Children’s Community Pediatrics, Dr. Silverstein said.
“We were very flattered to be among the five core groups of the network,” said Dr. Silverstein, who said Dr. Argentine spent months in committees and meetings, ironing out the details of the arrangement. “He was certainly instrumental in helping CCP find its way in the early days.”
Dr. Argentine was also an avid fisherman, a history buff, an award- winning vintner and a dog lover who raised Cairn terriers.
“He was really a Renaissance man,” said his brother, who referred to the wine- making as a family tradition.
“My grandfather made wine, and it always brings us together as a family,” he said.
His brother’s homemade muscat canelli and zinfandel wines won medals from the American Wine Society, he said.
“He was very proud,” Peter Argentine said. “He learned a lot about it and really got into the chemistry of it.”
Dr. Silverstein and his wife visited Dr. Argentine in the days before his death, treating him to a feast of his favorite Jewish foods and sharing some of his friend’s homemade wine.
The friends reminisced about the weekends they spent touring Civil War battlefields and Dr. Argentine’s massive model train collection.
“The Christmas display at the Carnegie Science Center had nothing on Arge,” he said. “He was a devoted hobbyist.”
When his brother was once asked about his life, Peter Argentine said, his answer was unequivocal.
“He said, ‘ I think I’ve done what God has intended me to do,’” Peter said. “He took great satisfaction in that.”
Along with his wife and brother, Dr. Argentine is survived by his sons, Christopher, of Dormont, and Peter Carl, of Peters; his sister, Dorrie Argentine, of Silver Spring, Md.; and his brother, Joseph, of Raleigh, N. C.
Family and friends are welcome 2- 4 and 6- 8 p. m. Friday at Beinhauer Funeral Home, 2828 Washington Road, McMurray. Funeral will be 10 a. m. Saturday in Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church, 1207 Washington Road, Mt. Lebanon.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the American Heart Association, www.heart.org; the Kidney Foundation, www.kidney.org; or Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation, https://www.givetochildrens.org.