Frank Bonura, longtime physician in Smithtown, dies at 88

Dr. Frank Bonura, of Nissequogue, delivered babies, and then the babies of those grown-up babie s. And as both generations grew older, he pivoted his practice to become a leading voice in the  study and treatment of menopause and an advocate for women’s health.

He continued doing so up to only a few days before his death Oct. 31 at age 88 — never retiring, and completing his schedule of patients even on the day he learned of his terminal cancer.

"I had the honor and privilege of working for this man for 38 years," said Jeanette Scavuzzo, of Kings Park, nurse and office manager at his Smithtown practice. "He just was just an amazing man. He delivered more than 10,000 babies. And then he saw the need of menopausal women out there suffering from osteoporosis."

He easily could have retired decades earlier, Scavuzzo said, "but he wasn't in it for the money. He was in it for the love of his profession. I remember one time a senior lady came in and she hadn’t wanted to miss her appointment so she took a cab. Not only did she leave not having to pay her copay, but she left with money for the cab. You don't see that."

"Last July," Bonura’s eldest son, Frank Bonura Jr., of Manhattan, said, "my parents and I were out to dinner and a couple of little kids came over to our table and one asked, ‘Are you Dr. Bonura?’ And he said 'yes.' Then one of the kids pointed out the window to the patio tables where his mother was and said, ‘You delivered my mommy.’"

Afterward, he continued, "We all went over to that person's table and without missing a beat, he addressed the lady by her name and introduced us to her family. ... My dad gave up obstetrics in 2004, so he must've delivered this woman over 30 years ago, yet he immediately knew who she was."

Untiringly, in 2018, he took on the mantle of director of menopausal health at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown. And up to a few weeks before his death, he continued to give free lectures and seminars about women’s health.

Frank Bonura was born Oct. 3, 1936, in Brooklyn, and raised there and in Queens. The younger of two children, he was given no middle name at birth. He informally adopted that of his father, Italian immigrant John Salvatore Bonura, a shipping clerk in wholesale clothing who married New York City-born May Sparacino.

After graduating from Grover Cleveland High School in Queens and St. Francis College in Brooklyn, and serving in the Air Force Reserve, Bonura spent six months learning Italian to obtain his medical degree at the University of Rome. He completed his training in the United States at The Brooklyn Hospital (now The Brooklyn Hospital Center) and the since-closed Cumberland Hospital in Brooklyn.

During this time, he met Brooklyn Hospital medical technologist Lenith "Leni" Vales. The couple married in March 1970 and moved to Fort Salonga, where Bonura began his obstetrics and gynecology practice. In 1976, they settled into their longtime home in Nissequogue and Bonura began practicing in Smithtown.

He was named chief of obstetrics at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital and continued to hold that position after the medical center became known as St. Catherine of Siena Hospital. He established the osteoporosis program there in 1998, his family said.

A member with his wife of the Nissequogue Golf Club in St. James for more than 50 years, Bonura was avid in sports and activities, including tennis, equestrianism, yoga and weight training.

"He was loved by many, many people," his son said. "Even as little kids, my brother and I, wherever we went as a family, whether out to dinner or to a show or on vacation in Puerto Rico or Bermuda, even at the airport, literally anyplace, it seemed like somebody would always come up to him and say, ‘Hi, Dr. Bonura, you helped me so much.’"

In addition to his wife and son, he is survived by his younger son, Christopher Bonura, of Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

Visitation will be held Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Branch Funeral Home in Smithtown. A funeral Mass will be celebrated Saturday at 9:45 a.m. at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Smithtown with interment to follow at St. Patrick’s Cemetery. There will be a private memorial.