Dr. Mervyn Gornitsky passed away on March 15, 2022
Both my parents had attended McGill. My father, Dr. Israel Gornitsky, graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry in 1927, and my mother Marie Goldberg was a commerce student in 1927-28.
I entered McGill in 1946, when the student experience was very different. After the Second World War, many returning veterans were accepted and the overflow were sent to Dawson College in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu outside of Montreal. During our first and second years in Science we remained at Dawson during the week and returned home for the weekend. I completed three years in Science prior to entering the Faculty of Dentistry.
McGill has a great reputation for being at the forefront of the educational and research experience. It is a marvelous place to be, knowing the teachers are excellent. The four years passed quickly, and on graduation, we felt quite prepared for the real world in dentistry.
Because I was a bridge player, I would play bridge with the chief of the clinic, Dr. Leahy. He would say to me, “Gornitsky, it’s lunchtime, let’s play bridge.” So that is how I spent part of my lunchtime during my clinic years. Being a dental student was otherwise a full-time job.
McGill was extremely important to my career and I ended as a Professor Emeritus at the University. My career is associated quite distinctly with McGill. I always wanted to be a teacher and felt that teaching was one of those great attributes for any professional.
McGill has such a great reputation around the world. I have been involved with different universities and hospital research centers in many countries. I treated HIV/AIDS patients for many years and lectured about that research all over the world—in at least 15 countries. McGill was always my entry into various areas throughout my travels. When I visited the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, I was introduced as a McGill Professor. I was thrilled to represent McGill in India, Kenya, Vietnam, China, Italy, France, Holland, the United States, and throughout Canada.
Clinical practice is a wonderful area of dentistry and is known for its own kind of expertise. As a clinician, I spent 50 years in oral and maxillofacial surgery.
Research is always progressing and stimulating. You are educating yourself to a great degree. This is especially important as I communicate with professionals that I would not have met otherwise. I am dealing with diseases and problems that are not encountered on a clinical basis. Even to this day, I spend a great degree of my time reading about various new research discoveries. That is why we are now involved with COVID-19. For many reasons, COVID-19 has become part of the dental field.
You can read the complete version of Dr. Gornitsky’s Made by McGill story here.