Peter Curt Mancusi-Ungaro, M.D.

Born in Salinas, CA in 1943, he moved at an early age to Miami, Florida which is where he spent his childhood. In Miami, Peter developed an appreciation for the water and the beach. He liked to sail and fish and spend time walking on the beach. A graduate of Oberlin College, he then went on to earn his MD from the University of Miami School of Medicine. After medical school, he spent time working at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. A devoted academician, he did research for the NIH while in the Public Health Service in the late 60s and then worked in an inner city ER in Baltimore. He met his wife of 52 years, Hannah, while he was working in Baltimore and Philadelphia and the couple married and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah where Peter completed his fellowship in Hematology and Oncology. The couple moved to Lexington, Ky where they adopted their two children, Cynthia and Andrew. Peter accepted a position with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill teaching in the internal medicine residency program at the Southeast Area Health Education Center (AHEC) at New Hanover Memorial Hospital. He worked for the University until a brief retirement in 2013.

Peter was an introspective man. He was well traveled and had an appreciation for a diversity of cultures, and beliefs. He was a loyal family man and never missed an opportunity to take a family hike to Sugarloaf in Carolina Beach State Park, walk down the Northern Extension to the inlet or take the family on a sail in the intracoastal waterway near Snows Cut.

Never an idle man, after transitioning from SEAHEC to the newly opened Zimmer Cancer Center, Peter “retired” in 2013. He stayed retired for about 6 months then started working locum tenens across the state and eastern seaboard from Asheville to Edenton, Rocky Mount to Roanoke Rapids to Greenville. He and Hannah spent several years in Charleston, WV and most recently Peter worked in Eden, NC.

He’s helped countless people battle cancer throughout his life and will be best known not only as a loyal husband, father and friend, but as a doctor in every sense of the word.

He is preceded in death by his wife, Hannah Ungaro and is survived by his Sister, Ursula Ungaro of Miami Florida, his daughter, Cynthia Ungaro and granddaughter Princess Jenkins of Wilmington, his son Andrew Ungaro, daughter in law Marley Ungaro and grandchildren Langley and Grey Mancusi-Ungaro of Jacksonville, FL. He not only leaves behind a loving family, but also friends, neighbors and countless patients whom he has cared for, loved and cherished throughout the years.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Lower Cape Fear LifeCareFoundation, 1414 Physicians Drive, Wilmington, NC 28401 or online at lifecare.org