Obituary of Dr. Pedro P. Cantillo

PEDRO PABLO CANTILLO M.D. (November 13th 1919 - February 26th 2017) Dr. Pedro Pablo Cantillo, a retired pediatrician, who practiced on Manhattan’s Upper Westside for 37 years, died yesterday of natural causes at the Hospice Inn, near Huntington NY where he lived for the past 30 years. Dr. Cantillo was born in Havana, Cuba on November 13th 1919. His parents were Pablo Jose Cantillo, a captain in the Cuban army’s military academy, and his wife Asuncion. He graduated from the University of Havana’s Medical School in 1946 and came to the United States to intern at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Orange N.J. He returned to Cuba in 1947 to marry his fiancé, Ciana Luz Garcia, also of Havana, brought her to New Jersey and then completed his residency in Pediatrics at St. Michael’s Hospital in Newark NJ. He started his own practice in 1950 on Manhattan’s Upper Westside and retired to Huntington Long Island in 1987. During the early 1960’s Dr. Cantillo and his wife Ciana were instrumental in sponsoring and financially assisting dozens of relatives and acquaintances settling in Miami, Florida after fleeing Castro’s communist regime in Cuba. During the summer of 1961 they spent many days at Miami’s International airport anticipating but not knowing who would arrive with only the clothes on their backs on Pan American Airline’s daily freedom flights. Though he was always grateful for the opportunity this country gave him, his only regret in life was not seeing “Cuba Libre”. Dr. Cantillo was predeceased by his wife of 65 years, Ciana Luz, in 2012 and will be interred together at St Patrick’s Cemetery in Huntington, NY. He is survived by his three children, Peter Cantillo of City Island NY, Nelson Cantillo of Wharton NJ, and Ciana Hartley of Huntington NY along with four grandchildren: Alexander, Victoria, Kristen and Ryan.