Donora doctor retiring after 60 years

By WAYNE STEWART

For the MVI

Television has had its share of long-running shows about doctors, including Marcus Welby, Ben Casey and James Kildare. 

Collectively, their medical tenures lasted 20 years.

They have nothing on Donora’s Dr. Dimitri Petro, who will retire today after an illustrious and very long career. 

“I’m looking forward to it, I’ve been working for 60 years now,” he said.

Born in 1934 in Donora, and a Donora High School graduate in 1952, Petro’s roots are entrenched in his community. His family was well known in town. 

“I was born right next door to my office,” he said. “My parents had a bakery there, Petro’s Bakery, and they were in business there for 71 years. We lived right above the baker shop. 

“There were five baker shops in Donora when I was growing up. There was a lot of everything in Donora then. We had five barber shops on one block.”

Petro also made his mark at the University of Pittsburgh, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1956, then going on to earn a Doctor of Medicine degree there four years later. Other noteworthy college accomplishments were being elected president of the men’s governing body and the Phi Rho Sigma medical fraternity.

He served his internship at St. Francis Hospital before enlisting in the U.S. Navy for a two-year stint. 

“I spent one year in Scotland on a ship that took care of the Polaris submarines — they could stay underwater for two months without surfacing,” Petro recalled. “Each one had 16 atomic missiles on them that could fire from under water. 

“In my second year in the Navy, I was in a naval air station just outside of Virginia Beach, Va. I worked in a clinic that took care of the families of the Navy personnel. It was a good experience.” 

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