George and Mary were both born to Italian immigrants in 1923 in Bethlehem, PA, where George, the son of a tailor from San Giorgio, Italy, and Mary, the daughter of a shoemaker from Calabria, Italy, were both raised in traditional Italian households. During her youth, Mary studied voice and built a vocal repertoire vast enough to perform regularly on local radio programs and at community events, including one in which she met George, who was then attending Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. George and Mary soon began dating and continued to do so through George’s transfer a year later to Lehigh University and his decision in 1943 to join the U.S. Navy, where he initially held the rank of Ensign but quickly rose to the rank of Lieutenant. After leaving the Navy, George completed his undergraduate education at Lehigh and on July 19, 1947, he and Mary were married. The couple soon moved to Rochester, NY where George continued his dream of becoming a doctor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. Upon completion of medical school, George was accepted for his internship and residency at the prestigious Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, NC.
Dazzling Career
While at Duke Medical Center, Dr. D’Angelo was inspired by Dr. J. Deryl Hart, then chair of the Department of Surgery, to pursue as his life’s work the exciting and evolving field of cardiovascular surgery. While in Durham, George also met an intern from a small, but growing city in Northwestern Pennsylvania that was in dire need of a cardiovascular surgeon. Shortly thereafter, in 1958, George and Mary packed up their five children and traveled north to Erie, PA. Dr. D’Angelo began his practice at a time when the idea of open heart surgery was still emerging in major medical centers around the country, but Dr. D’Angelo decided that this life-saving technology should be available to the people of Northwestern Pennsylvania. Dr. D’Angelo sought additional training with renowned heart surgeon Dr. Jay Ankeney in Cleveland, and in 1962, Dr. D’Angelo earned recognition by performing the region’s first open heart surgery in Erie on then 11-year-old John Ciota. Dr. D’Angelo went on to perform more than 7,000 open-heart procedures before he retired in 1998. He was recognized for the way he inspired others to join him in his pursuit of excellence both inside and outside of medicine. He was never content with mediocrity and did not like the word “try”.
Supporter of the Arts
Thousands of lives have been saved due to the surgical expertise of Dr. George D’Angelo, and thousands more have been deeply touched due to his and Mary’s philanthropic activities and community support. As lovers of the arts, the D’Angelo’s life was marked by music. George’s boyhood home was filled with traditional Italian music and he, himself played the violin. In Erie, Mary’s musical inclination drove her to become involved with the Erie Philharmonic Auxiliary. George shared that interest and became active in the Erie Philharmonic Orchestra Board of Trustees. He served as its president for six years during which he more than doubled its budget. But he was most proud of bringing world-class performers to the Erie stage, including the renowned tenor, Luciano Pavarotti. In 1977, after hearing Luciano Pavarotti at the Bloomfield Festival in Cleveland, George worked with Pavarotti’s agent, Herbert Breslin, to bring Pavarotti to Erie, where he performed in front of a sell-out crowd at the Warner Theater in April 1979.