Dr. Robert Irving Levy
Pioneering nephrologist and World War II Navy veteran expressed his lifelong love of music as a classical pianist
Robert Irving Levy had dual passions in life: medicine and music.
Dr. Levy, a pioneering nephrologist, World War II Navy veteran and classical pianist, died of cardiac arrest May 10 at home. The Roland Park resident was 97.
Dr. Levy was one of the first Baltimore physicians to specialize in nephrology, the study of kidneys, during a time when dialysis wasn’t commonly used and patients often died of renal disease. He graduated from the Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1953 and later performed the second dialysis treatment ever in Baltimore, a process that filters waste from the blood when kidneys stop functioning normally, said his daughter Elizabeth Malis, of Hunt Valley.
“After he retired from medicine, he would go down to do rounds at Hopkins just to see what was new. And he no longer needed it because he wasn’t practicing, but he just was so interested in medicine,” Mrs. Malis said with a laugh. Dr. Levy retired in 2002.
Dr. Levy grew up on Callow Avenue near Druid Hill Park. He took the streetcar to Baltimore City College, where he graduated in 1944. He was the son of Dr. Charles Levy, a urologist with whom he later shared a lobby and waiting room for their respective practices, and Ruth Bear, a homemaker and painter.
At 18, Dr. Levy was drafted into the Navy during World War II and, with a medical career in mind, served as a pharmacists’ mate on the USS Saratoga from 1944 to 1946. Proud of the experience, Dr. Levy hung a USS Saratoga plaque above his bed throughout his life and wore his Navy uniform for Halloween, Mrs. Malis said.
After the war, Dr. Levy graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1949 from the Johns Hopkins University with a bachelor’s degree in biology. He became a chief resident at Sinai Hospital following medical school and later was on staff at the Baltimore hospital. Dr. Levy started his own practice and also performed renal consultations, renal biopsies and hemodialysis at hospitals in the Baltimore area. He was one of a few doctors who still made house calls, Mrs. Malis said.
“I remember as a child we were going on vacation somewhere and driving along, we would have to stop because my dad was going to make a house call,” she said.
His other passion in life was music. Dr. Levy took piano lessons at the Peabody Institute as a child and throughout his adult life, becoming an expert pianist. He maintained the same baby grand piano he first owned at age 15, playing daily to express himself and in part to relieve stress from long days at work.
“The sounds of music were everywhere,” Mrs. Malis said. “He used to drive carpool and would listen to classical music and quiz us on who wrote the piece. And so we learned a lot about composers and classical music.”
Dr. Levy was always on the road. He became the medical director of a dialysis facility in Westminster and for 20 years commuted from Baltimore. He appreciated the view from country roads, said his daughter Katherine Levy, of Kansas City, Missouri.
Fiercely independent, Dr. Levy continued driving into his 90s. When his dementia was beginning to show, Mrs. Levy persuaded him to get an official safe driver’s evaluation, believing it would force him to surrender his license. Instead, he passed and impressed the instructor with his back-in parking skills.
“He had a really good sense of humor,” Mrs. Levy said. “He had these blue eyes and always had this little twinkle in his eye if he made a joke.”
He and his wife of 50 years, the late Ruth Sax, liked to travel to see operas and classical concerts. They raised their family of five on Woodcrest Avenue in Mount Washington, where they lived for 40 years until 2015 when Dr. Levy moved into a senior living facility in Roland Park.
In his free time, Dr. Levy enjoyed playing tennis, swimming, taking photos and eating dessert. He was also a member of the Osler Society and wrote papers for the American Association of History of Medicine.
In addition to his two daughters, Dr. Levy is survived by his son, David B. Levy, of Long Island, New York; five grandchildren; and a great-grandchild. He is preceded in death by his wife Ruth Levy.
A service was held May 14 at Har Sinai Cemetery in Owings Mills.