Dr. Peter Chopivsky, 57, of Leesburg, Va., died on April 19, 2010, at his home, after a struggle against pancreatic cancer.Dr. Peter Chopivsky, 57, of Leesburg, Va., died on April 19, 2010, at his home, after a struggle against pancreatic cancer.
He was born in 1952 in Chicago and grew up in Vermont and Astoria where his father was a local family physician.
Surviving are his wife, Ann; four children, Katya, Maria, Lesya and Peter Jr.; two brothers, George Jr. of Washington, DC, and Andrew of Reston; one sister, Lydia of Washington, DC; three nephews; and three nieces.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Dr. George and Sophia Chopivsky.
In 1966, his parents moved to Zion, he graduated co-valedictorian of his class. While in high school, he wrote a weekly column for the Zion-Benton News. He then attended Princeton University where he obtained a bachelor degree in biology in 1974.
He attended medical school at The George Washington School of Medicine in Washington, DC, where he graduated in 1978. After completing his residency at University of California, Los Angeles, he was appointed a professor at the UCLA Medical School. While on the staff of UCLA he was a participant in the UCLA Programs in Medical Classics, exploring the scientific and clinical meanings of certain texts and topics and their significance in the light of present-day medical practice and the relation of medicine to broader cultural settings. He was a presenter of Medicine in the Bible. He also presented in a series, Medicine and the Arts, discussing artists such as Mozart and Monet and how their respective medical conditions affected their works.
He practiced in a private family practice in Los Angeles where, as written in the Los Angeles Times, he was recognized as a rare doctor who allowed himself that pause —like the old-time family doctor — to observe, to communicate.
He returned to Leesburg in 1990 and started a solo family practice.
He was committed to the Leesburg community and volunteered his time at Loudoun Free Clinic. He was a medical provider at Graydon Manor, and continued to lecture on Medicine and the Arts.
He served on the selection committee of the Harrison-Conrad Memorial Trust. He was a basketball coach with the Central Loudoun Youth Basketball League, a Bronze winner in the Annual Northern Virginia Senior Olympics Freethrow event and kept a basketball backboard outside the front door of his office.
He received the 2008 Service Business of the Year Award in 2008, presented by Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce. He also was active in the medical communities of George Washington University and University of Virginia.
Residents will recall Peter grew up in this area with his parents and grandparents.
A traditional Ukrainian service was held April 23 at St. Andrews Ukrainian Orthodox Memorial Church in South Bound Brook, N.J. Burial was at St. Andrews Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to Loudoun Free Clinic, 224B Cornwall St., NW, Leesburg, VA 20176 or to Chopivsky College Fund at the Middleburg Bank, 102 Catoctin Circle, SE, Leesburg, VA 20175.
Condolences may be sent to www.colonialfuneralhome.com.