Longtime area family physician, Dr. Peter Ivan Rabinovitch passed away peacefully June 23 in Wilmington, DE; he was 83.
Peter was born in Norwich, CT., to Dr. Esther Cramer and Dr. Alec Rabinovitch. He attended Norwich schools, graduating from Norwich Free Academy, and going on to the University of Vermont where he received his medical degree in 1963. He completed his medical internship at Rochester Hospital in 1964.
Dr. Rabinovitch joined the US Public Health Service in 1964 before opening his private practice. He served on the Navajo reservation in Chinle, Arizona as well as on US Coast Guard Cutters in Cape May, New Jersey and in Wilmington, NC. He served again in 1983-1984, stationed at the Miami Indian Health Center in Miami, Oklahoma and then on the Standing Rock Indian reservation in Ft. Yates, North Dakota.
In private practice, he was the consummate family physician, responding to his patients after hours and weekends as needed. Patients would frequently come to an office in his home, or he would make house calls, carrying his black medical bag and occasionally stitching up small cuts at a kitchen table. Dr Rabinovitch was recognized by his colleagues as being an excellent diagnostician. He served multiple generations of Waterford/New London area families for more than 45 years.
Peter was an avid hobbyist over his lifetime, his interests including candle making, photography, wood carving, fly tying, model planes and gardening. He was an aviation and car enthusiast, especially fond of little sports cars like his MG. His home and office were filled with knick-knacks, curios and souvenirs brought to him by his patients over the years.
Peter is survived by his brother William Rabinovitch of New York City, his sons, Marc Ham, Adam and Paul Rabinovitch, all of Delaware; his daughters, Lynn Ham and Robyn Rabinovitch, of Delaware and Pennsylvania; his stepdaughter, Tara Hoelck Booker of New London, 10 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren. He is pre-deceased by his son Alec Peterson and his wife Emily Rabinovitch.
Arrangements are private and the family encourages those who wish to honor and celebrate Peter’s life, to choose their own meaningful way to do so that is special to them and embodies the spirit of their relationship with him.
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