Harold Kosasky, MD, an HMS Clinical Instructor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Kosasky died on July 21, 2011 at the age of 83.
Born in 1928 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Kosasky received from the University of Manitoba both his bachelor’s degree, in 1948, and his medical degree, in 1953. It was during residency at a Calgary hospital that he met Shirley Johnston, a surgical nurse who became his wife of 56 years.
Kosasky came to Boston in 1961 and, in 1977, joined the staff of the Boston Hospital for Women, a forerunner of Brigham and Women’s. In the course of a 58-year career, he delivered literally thousands of babies and conducted pioneering research in infertility. Kosasky’s studies led to more than 15 patents and drew the attention of the Vatican and international non-government organizations concerned with birth control issues.
According to colleagues and family members, Kosasky’s patients always came first. Dr. Raymond Reilly, a gynecological surgeon and associate clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Brigham and Women’s, recalls “a wonderfully kind and caring doctor. His patients all loved him.”
Daughter Leah Kosasky remembers that “the phone would ring at all hours of the night and I would get up and watch my father get ready and leave for the hospital. He was off to bring another baby into the world.”
In addition to Leah, Dr. Kosasky leaves his wife, Shirley, another daughter, Julia Hallisey, and a son, Robert, and their respective spouses, William Hallisey and Beatriz Gonzalez-Kosasky, as well as six grandchildren.
A long-time resident of Brookline, Mass., Kosasky found time to indulge in another passion as a baritone with the Boston Sangerfest Men’s Chorus. The group honored Kosasky’s request that they sing at his memorial service on September 30th.
The family asks that contributions in Dr. Kosasky’s honor be made to St. Joseph’s Indian School, 1301 North Main Street, Chamberlain, SD 57325. St. Joseph’s houses and educates neglected or otherwise at-risk Lakota children.
