Huntington oral surgeon Richard Sand dies

Richard H. Sand, an accomplished oral and maxillofacial surgeon in Huntington for more than three decades known for extraordinary dedication to his work, has died.

Sand, of Lattingtown, died April 19. He was 77 and had battled leukemia and lymphoma.

"He was a man who did not know how to say no to a patient if they were in pain," said his wife, Jayne Sand. "He'd go out at 3 o'clock in the morning if somebody called."

Sand was born in Brooklyn to a father who was a pharmacist and a mother who was an accountant. He graduated from Erasmus Hall High School and earned his undergraduate degree in science from Brooklyn College.

He'd go on to graduate from New York University College of Dentistry and earn his degree in oral and maxillofacial surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Medicine.

A captain in the Army, Sand served as chief oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Fort Bliss, Texas, from 1960 to 1963, his family said.

He held a similar post at the 8th Field Hospital in Nha Trang during the Vietnam War, the family said.

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In 1965, Sand attended a Christmas tea at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn -- where his future wife, a nurse, was among those tasked with serving the attendees.

"We went out that night," said Jayne Sand, 66, "and I called my cousin and said, 'I just met the man I am going to marry.' "

The marriage took place on Sept. 2, 1967, and the couple would go on to raise five children.

In addition to his private practice in Huntington, Sand served as attending oral surgeon at Huntington Hospital and at Metropolitan Hospital Center in Manhattan. He was Huntington Hospital's chief of oral and maxillofacial surgery from 1973 to 1984.

Jill Sand Corwin, 39, of Locust Valley, said her father was generous and caring. Despite the long hours he worked, he was always there for his children and instilled in them the importance of putting others' needs before one's own, she said.

And, she said, he was funny.

"He was a human person," Corwin said. "He had a great sense of humor, even in his last days."

Sand also is survived by three sons, Christopher of Lebanon, N.J., Michael of Lattingtown, and Blake of Bayville; a brother, Barry Sand of St. Augustine, Fla.; and four grandchildren.

He was predeceased by a daughter, Jenny, who died of complications from cystic fibrosis at 23.

Sand was buried April 24 at Cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury.