Jay Pivor, Director of Arlington Gentle Dental, Dies, 63

ARLINGTON, MA — The director of Arlington's Gentle Dental dentistry passed away on Friday, Aug. 25, of pancreatic cancer. He had recently celebrated his 63rd birthday and was only diagnosed in June.

On Saturday friends and clients took to social media to lament his passing. Many described him as honest and sincere. And told stories of the way he put them at ease in the chair and how he played eclectic music when he worked. "It is what it is," he was known to say.

His wife Jenny described him as an all around good man.

"He was the kind of guy who always knew what the right thing to do was and always said the right thing. He always made things better. Everybody just loved him and respected him," she said Tuesday.

Jenny met Jay about eight years ago. Colleagues of Jay's at work had given him six month subscription to an online dating service to encourage him to date again but it was about to expire and he was ok with that. Jenny, meanwhile was just about to let hers expire and was going to give it one last look before giving up on online dating forever when she saw his profile.

"He just looked like this nice guy, interested in jazz and photography" she remembers. She asked him out to dinner and they met up at a little sushi place. "We just liked each other and that was that," she said. No more online dating for either of them.

They traveled across the states and to Italy and Paris.

It was about two years ago in Italy that Jay proposed to Jenny. They were sitting on a dock on the Mediterranean looking out across the waters with a full moon and fireworks going off for a wedding nearby when he asked her.

They were married last year but it wasn't until he started having back problems a couple months ago that anyone - his doctor included - knew there was anything wrong with him.

After a CAT scan the doctor diagnosed him with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer, it came as a shock to the entire family.

Jay will be remembered as an avid photographer, his images have been used on book covers and exhibited, while his photos of musicians documented many concerts and events, combining his love of jazz with photography.

Many of his images can be enjoyed on the website that he and his wife put together: http://lovingboston.com. He enjoyed playing the saxophone and led the jazz band for the Sudbury Valley New Horizons band for five years.

It was a return in many ways to his childhood when he was in his high school band. In the summers after 9th, and 10th grades he studied at the University of Vermont summer music program, playing tennis in his spare time with friends.

He was an excellent cook who loved to entertain, known for his ribs and apple pies and paella.

"He will also be long remembered as a caring and kind man who would have given you the shirt off his back," reads his obituary.

And he was a man who would try anything. One of Jenny's favorite photos of him is a picture from their trip to Paris. He's wearing a scarf and the both of them had just had their hair styled. "Oh he was in to it," she said.

Another time on a rainy trip to Barcelona, the two were wandering the old city and walked by a place where they offered fish pedicures, where the fish nibble at your feet. Guess what the two did next? "We sat and had our feet nibbled next to each other in the rain. That was really cool," Jenny remembers.

Pivor was born in Brooklyn. His first job was as an elevator operator in a building in New York where his dad was a sales rep. But he came to the area in the 1980′s for a fellowship at the Harvard Dental School. Before that, he received his undergraduate in Biology at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, and went on to study dentistry at the New York University School of Dentistry in New York City. He then he held his own practice in Boston before joining Delta Dental in Arlington in the late 80s.

“He was a mentor to many as well an innovator, always learning and applying his findings to better his practice and the lives of those around him,” his wife wrote in his obituary in a Facebook post.

Pivor leaves behind his wife, Jenny, his children Jeremy, Jennifer and Jonathan from his first marriage and his stepchildren Ellie and Zach Brown. He is also survived by his brother Doctor Mitchell Pivor, a pediatric nephrologist, his wife Carol and their daughter Alicia. And his dog Mr. Darcy.

A memorial service for Pivor will be held on Sunday, Sept. 10, at the Piano Craft Gallery, 793 Tremont St. in Boston. The service will begin at 6:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, his wife asks that gifts be made in his honor to The Brain Tumor Society or Planned Parenthood.

Photo courtesy