Dentist

Dr. Faina Nagel, a dentist who practiced in Columbia and had earlier lived in Leningrad and Israel, died of stomach cancer March 9 at her Howard County home. She was 54. Born Faina Okun in Belarus, she grew up in Leningrad and attended the Leningrad Pediatric Institute. Her father, a physics teacher, suffered the loss of his family, who were Jews, during World War II. Her mother was a store manager. As a teen, she was a member of the Young Communist Party. Family members said she encountered anti-Semitism and left the U.S.S.R.

A Baltimore man serving a 60-year murder sentence now faces life without parole in an unrelated homicide in Glen Burnie, after he was convicted Monday of the first-degree murder of Dr. Albert Woonho Ro. Dante Jeter, 25, is scheduled to be sentenced July 24 in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court for his role in the fatal beating, stabbing and robbery on Sept. 26, 2006, of Ro, 51, a dentist well-known in the area's Korean-American community. Prosecutor Anne Colt Leitess said she intends to seek life without parole for the murder, plus another life sentence for Jeter's conviction of conspiring with his cousin, Shontay Joyner Hickman, 37, also of Baltimore, and possibly additional time for a robbery conviction.

An Annapolis dentist was sentenced Wednesday to two years in federal prison for not paying withholding taxes for his dental and orthodontic practice, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Baltimore. U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson also sentenced Jay Wayne Hustead, 65, to pay restitution of nearly $66,000, perform 200 hours of community service, and serve three years on supervised release, the federal prosecutors' office said. He must also sign an agreement to the pay additional money owed to the IRS. Hustead, and his wife, Susan Hustead, 57, operated Hustead Dental and Orthodontics, employing dentists, technicians and others, and the couple admitted to their roles in not filing withholding taxes and other tax documents for the dental office, prosecutors said.

Dr. Richard T. Koritzer Sr., who practiced dentistry in Glen Burnie for 50 years and whose thirst for knowledge resulted in his earning a master's degree when he was 84, died Thursday from blood clots at Baltimore Washington Medical Center. The Glen Burnie resident was 85. The son of a dental technician and a homemaker, he was born in Baltimore and raised on Eutaw Place and later in the city's Pimlico neighborhood. He was 14 when he began working for his father, who owned Southern Dental Laboratory.

Dr. J. Laws Nickens Sr., a retired dentist, died Feb. 21 of lymphoma at his Roland Park Place home. He was 91. Born in Northumberland County, Va., he was a 1938 graduate of Douglass High School, where he was a center on the football team and its captain. He attended Morgan State University, but his studies were interrupted by his service in World War II. He was also captain of the Morgan football team. Dr. Nickens attended Army Officer Candidate School and served initially in coastal defense at Pearl Harbor.

Dr. Howard Louis "Jim" Levy, who maintained a family dental practice in Deale for two decades, died Aug. 4 of spinocerebellar ataxia, a rare neurological degenerative disorder, at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Pinehurst resident was 60. The son of a pharmacist and an artist, he was born and raised in Annapolis, where he graduated from Annapolis High School in 1969. Dr. Levy never used his given name but rather the nickname "Jim" that was bestowed on him by an older brother at his birth.

Dr. Thomas F. Clement, a retired Carroll County dentist, died Friday of colon cancer at the Charlestown retirement community. He was 82. The son of a dentist and a homemaker, Dr. Clement was born in Baltimore and raised on Edmondson Avenue in West Baltimore. After graduating in 1945 from City College, he earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. He was a 1951 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Dentistry. He met his future wife, the former Esther R. Moore, who was a nursing student at the Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Nursing.

Dr. George G. Hansen, a retired dentist and master woodworker, died April 11 of pneumonia at Oak Crest Village retirement community. He was 89. The son of educators, Dr. Hansen was born in Baltimore and raised in Towson. He spent his boyhood summers at a camp his parents owned and operated in Oakland, where he learned to ride horses, shoot, canoe, camp and do woodworking. After graduating in 1941 from Polytechnic Institute, where his father taught physical education, he earned his degree in an accelerated class in 1946 from the University of Maryland School of Dentistry.

More than five years after Dr. Albert Woonho Ro was found beaten to death in his Glen Burnie dental office, his dental assistant admitted Monday that she siphoned more than $17,000 from his business and had him killed to cover it up. Shontay Joyner Hickman, 36, of Baltimore pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree murder in the death of the dentist, who was from a family well-known in the local Korean-American community. She was sentenced to life in prison. Hickman's plea agreement was sealed because of the continuing investigation — a man charged in Ro's killing is scheduled to go on trial in May. "I have destroyed a lot, his family and mine," she said through tears as she apologized to more than a dozen members of Ro's family seated in the courtroom.

An Annapolis dentist was sentenced Wednesday to two years in federal prison for not paying withholding taxes for his dental and orthodontic practice, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Baltimore. U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson also sentenced Jay Wayne Hustead, 65, to pay restitution of nearly $66,000, perform 200 hours of community service, and serve three years on supervised release, the federal prosecutors' office said. He must also sign an agreement to the pay additional money owed to the IRS. Hustead, and his wife, Susan Hustead, 57, operated Hustead Dental and Orthodontics, employing dentists, technicians and others, and the couple admitted to their roles in not filing withholding taxes and other tax documents for the dental office, prosecutors said.

Two Laurel dentists are offering a significant discount on dental services in tandem with helping their community food pantry. Dr. Maurice Miles and Dr. Daniel Melnick are assisting people in the community who have lost their dental coverage due to job loss by offering dental services at a fraction of their normal rate. For $75 patients receive oral examinations, x-rays and dental cleanings, with all proceeds going to Elizabeth House. The discount remains in effect until Nov. 30. http://www.dentistlaurelmd.com/index.php/ctegory/community .

Dr. Joseph Giardina, a retired Baltimore County dentist who was an early advocate for understanding the educational needs of dyslexic students, died of kidney failure Sept. 9 at his Phoenix, Baltimore County, home. He was 82. Born in Baltimore and raised on West Fayette Street, he was a 1948 graduate of Polytechnic Institute, where he played football. He remained active in the school's alumni association. While in the Army and serving in Germany, he also competed on a military football team.

A Baltimore man accused of killing a dentist in Glen Burnie was sentenced Tuesday to serve 60 years in prison for an unrelated 2008 murder over a $150 debt, according to the city state's attorney's office. Dante Jeter, 24, who was convicted in June of first-degree murder and weapons violations, was sentenced by Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Marcus Z. Shar to life in prison with all but 60 years suspended, the prosecutor's office said. Prosecutors said Tyrone Freeman, 25, was shot in May 2008 over a drug debt.

Dr. Howard Louis "Jim" Levy, who maintained a family dental practice in Deale for two decades, died Aug. 4 of spinocerebellar ataxia, a rare neurological degenerative disorder, at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Pinehurst resident was 60. The son of a pharmacist and an artist, he was born and raised in Annapolis, where he graduated from Annapolis High School in 1969. Dr. Levy never used his given name but rather the name "Jim" that was bestowed by an older brother at his birth.