Alan M. Levine, director of the Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute for Sinai Hospital and Northwest Hospital Center and an internationally known orthopedic oncologist, died Sunday . The Pikesville resident was 61.
Dr. Levine was exercising at the LifeBridge Health and Fitness Center in Pikesville on Sunday morning when he was stricken with a heart attack..
"Alan's death is a shock and a huge loss. He was an extraordinary figure with a bigger-than-life personality. He had an enormous talent for doing a lot of things well," said Warren A. Green, president and chief executive officer of LifeBridge Health, which owns and operates Sinai Hospital and Northwest Hospital Center.
"He was a gifted and internationally known surgeon who specialized in tumors of the bone and scoliosis, or curvature of the spine," said Mr. Green, who brought Dr. Levine to Sinai in 1998. "He was an incredible breed because he had training in both orthopedics and cancer."
He praised Dr. Levine's leadership and energy.
"Alan was a very robust person who had a vision which he combined with an energy and drive to get things done. He was a very special person here," Mr. Green said.
Born in Albany, N.Y., and raised in Niskayuna, N.Y., Dr. Levine was the son of an orthopedic surgeon and the grandson of a dentist, and spent a considerable amount of time in his grandfather's dental office observing him work.
Dr. Levine was 5 years old when he decided to pursue a career in medicine.
"Going into medicine was one of the few things I considered," Dr. Levine said in an interview that is posted on the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Web site.
"Obviously, seeing that my father enjoyed what he did influenced me," he said. "I wanted not to just follow him into medicine, but to have my own career, which is why orthopaedics was the last specialty that I considered."
After graduating from Niskayuna High School, he earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in the classics in 1970 from Brown University.
After earning his medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine in 1974, he completed an internship in general surgery at the University of Colorado and a residency in orthopedic surgery at Yale in 1980. He also completed a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute.
From 1976 to 1978, he was a commissioned officer with the U.S. Public Health Service.
Dr. Levine was director of the orthopedic rehabilitation unit at Montebello State Hospital from 1980 to 1986. From 1983 to 1998, he was chief of orthopedic oncology service and director of the spinal injury clinic at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Other appointments that Dr. Levine held at the medical center included director of resident education in the orthopedic program from 1983 to 1990 and associate chief of the division of orthopedic surgery from 1989 to 1998.
Dr. Levine also was chief of the scoliosis service at the James Lawrence Kernan Hospital from 1986 to 1998, and also held a faculty appointment at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Dr. Levine's arrival at Sinai was a key component in making the Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute a success, colleagues said.
"Under the guidance of Alan Levine, the Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute is a recognized leader in the treatment of cancer, not only in Baltimore, but beyond," said Sinai Hospital President Neil Meltzer in a prepared statement released after Dr. Levine's death.
"Alan's vision of a team approach always placed the patient at the center of care. This focus on the patient is what made Alan not only a visionary in the field, but also a man whose devotion to humanity rose above all else."
Mark J. Brenner, a radiation oncologist, was a longtime close friend.
"Alan was one of those rare people you meet in life who are actually larger than life. He was a force. A bull in a china shop. A giant," Dr. Brenner said.
"He had a vision of building a cancer service and did it. And he was the kind of guy who wouldn't take 'no' for an answer from hospital administrators, and succeeded in building a superb department," he said. "He had very high standards for everyone, including himself."
Dr. Brenner described him as a "superb surgeon who was incredibly bright, respected by his peers, and who really understood that cancer medicine was a team sport and enjoyed its camaraderie."
He recalled that Dr. Levine would never turn away a patient or ask someone else to take the case. "He would do whatever it took to help a patient," he said.
Dr. Levine, who lectured worldwide, was a prolific contributor to medical journals and was editor of Skeletal Trauma, and Selected Readings in Nonoperative Musculoskeletal Care.
He had also been editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons for eight years, and was a member of the board of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Dr. Levine and his wife were avid collectors of vintage posters, and he decorated his hospital office with many of them.
Another hobby was making teddy bears, including a Scoli-Bear that Dr. Levine used to help explain and reduce fear for children facing scoliosis surgery.
"He was just a good guy, and it feels very empty here now. He was such a huge presence," Dr. Brenner said.
Dr. Levine and his wife of 38 years, the former Barbara Portnoy, were avid bicyclists who enjoyed taking bicycling vacations.
"We rode in Italy, France, Canada, Costa Rica, Prince Edward Island and all over the U.S.," said Mrs. Levine, a Baltimore commercial interior designer.
Dr. Levine also was a wine collector.
"We buried Alan in his bicycling outfit and his shirt that we bought at the Ravenswood Winery," Mrs. Levine said.
Dr. Levine was an active member of Chizuk Amuno Congregation.
Services were held Tuesday.
Also surviving are a son, Dana R. Levine of San Francisco; two daughters, Andrea N. Levine of Baltimore and Alissa Wong of New York City; his father, Dr. Leon Levine of San Diego; and a sister, Francea McNair of Tacoma, Wash.
