Outpouring of Love for RSDM Professor who Died Valentine’s Day

Dr. Gaetano Spinnato The RSDM community fondly remembered longtime Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Professor Gaetano Spinnato, who died Feb. 14 at age 83.

“This was a man of love,” said Dr. Lawrence Gorzelnik, a maxillofacial surgeon and assistant professor of OMFS at RSDM. 

Gorzelnik and Assistant Professor Victor Petriella, another longtime friend and colleague, described Dr. Spinnato as a mentor to many, a lighthearted soul who kept people laughing with his jokes and pranks. He was driven both professionally and personally, and gave generously of his time and resources, they said.

“He was such a genuine, sincere guy,” said Dr. Petriella, who like Gorzelnik had worked in Spinnato’s practice for many years and then joined him on the RSDM faculty.

“He’s the most caring, generous person I’ve ever met,” said OMFS resident Christina Gory, who worked under Spinnato for 2½ years. Dr. Gory enjoyed listening to his many stories about growing up in Jersey City as the son of Italian immigrants.

From a young age, Spinnato was determined to be successful. Petriella recalled a childhood story Spinnato shared about his mother being refused credit to buy him a suit. Spinnato wanted to be sure he could always provide for his children, Petriella said.

Spinnato worked a hodgepodge of jobs when he was young, delivering newspapers and selling Bibles door-to-door, doing shipyard construction and social work. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves. After dental school, he completed an oral surgery internship at a New York City hospital.

At age 60, with a successful OMFS practice, Spinnato enrolled in medical school, earning an M.D. in 2003. “He was able to juggle all this,” Gorzelnik said. “He accepted challenges and pushed himself,” Petriella added.

Spinnato competed in several marathons, and was still running at age 80. He often challenged OMFS residents to push-up contests — and won, Petriella said. Gory said Spinnato often invited her and other residents to walk the hospital stairs, going up 10 flights. “He wasn’t even winded!” she said.

“It’s incredible to me he was able to accomplish everything he did,” Gory said.

Gorzelnik was 13 years old when he first met Spinnato, who was working in Gorzelnik’s father’s practice. He recalled how in the weeks before his mother succumbed to breast cancer in 2017, Spinnato would stop by regularly with French cream lobster tail pastries — the only food she wanted to eat. “He was so thoughtful and caring,” Gorzelnik said.

Petriella described a trip Sicily with Spinnato, and how he spoke the dialect like a native. That came in handy when they visited Petriella’s distant relatives, he said. Spinnato “was comfortable speaking with everyone, and related well to them,” Petriello said.

While Spinnato’s children and grandchildren were top priority, he made RSDM students feel like family too. “When he was talking to students, they’d gather around him like campfire storytime,” Gorzelnik said. “He made the learning fun!”

Dozens of students, former and current, and faculty left touching remembrances for Spinnato on social media and websites. Dr. Souren Hajjar wrote on the funeral home’s tribute wall: “He had the spunk of a young man, the wisdom of a hardened surgeon, and the heart of a good man.” ###