Robert A. Carnevale, MD

Late Friday night, Dr. Robert Carnevale passed away surrounded by his family at Rhode Island Hospital. Fifty years earlier, as a teenager, he had his first job sweeping the hospital floors. His son Joseph, now a third year Brown medical student, walks these same halls as he visits patients during rounds. Dr. Carnevale was a cardiologist, a teacher, a storyteller, an explorer, a comedian, an historian but above all else a husband, father, grandfather, brother, son, and friend. He was born, raised, and educated in Providence. He attended Classical High School and Providence College, before studying medicine at New York Medical College. In 1975, he returned to RI for an Internal Medicine residency and Cardiology fellowship at Rhode Island Hospital. From the earliest stages of his exposure to medicine he had a passion for direct patient care. In 1980, along with his wife Joanne and Cheryl McVay, he built a health practice in the Elmhurst section of Providence, which was unique in that it focused on primary care and cardiology. As a pioneer in echocardiography, he traveled the world learning and teaching the latest technologies in cardiac imaging. As a clinical associate professor of medicine at Brown University, Dr. Carnevale devoted his time to educating medical students, sonographers, residents, and fellows in the art of medicine. In 1995, together with friends and colleagues, Robert was involved in the creation of a new concept in care, a group practice but without walls. The practice was called Coastal Medical, where Dr. Carnevale served for many years as a founder, treasurer, chairman of the finance committee, and later medical director. In 2014, he was awarded the Irving Addison Beck Memorial Award from the American College of Physicians. Today, he is known to all as a teacher of those who wish to learn, an impassioned caregiver to patients, but overall a community physician who loved his patients like his family and would go above and beyond for them - no phone call was too late, no visit too far. Dr. Robert Carnevale is survived by his wife of 36 years Joanne, his four children Kerri, Jessie, Bobby, and Joey, two grandchildren Peter and Charlotte, his mother and father Angelo and Anna, his uncle and aunt Henry and Sheila, brothers and sister Frank, Tom, and Mary-Ellen. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, July 1, 2015 at 10:00 AM in Saint Augustine Church, Mt. Pleasent Ave., Providence. Calling hours will be held on Tuesday, June 30, 2015 at Russell J. Boyle & Son Funeral Home, 331 Smith Street, Providence from 4-8 PM. Burial will be private. Donations can be made in his name to Brown Medical Annual Fund.