Ivo Pitanguy, Brazil's icon of plastic surgery, dies one day after carrying the Olympic torch
A cultural icon in a country famous for keeping up its looks, Pitanguy improved the looks of scores of famous people, many of whom stayed on his island of Angra dos Reis in Rio de Janeiro state
Ivo Pitanguy, a plastic surgeon whose skill with the scalpel drew celebrities to his operating table from around the world and made him a cultural icon in beauty-obsessed Brazil, died on Saturday, one day after passing the Olympic torch for the Rio Games. He was 90.
Pitanguy died of a heart attack in his Rio home on Saturday, a spokeswoman said. He had been suffering from a kidney illness since last year, she said.
In his last public appearance, seated in a wheelchair, Pitanguy held the Olympic torch in the Rio neighbourhood of Gavea where his clinic is located on the final leg of the relay to Friday’s opening of the Games.
The son of a doctor, Pitanguy reportedly fainted the first time he saw surgery as a boy but went on to become a revered dispenser of beauty at his Rio de Janeiro clinic and to cement Brazil’s place as one of the world’s plastic-surgery capitals.
