Marvin Bellin, MD
November 22, 2018

Marvin L. Bellin, MD, died Thursday, November 22, 2018, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was 89 years old. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he inherited a deep love of family and an enduring sense of social justice from his parents, Samuel A. and Pearl Bellin. He graduated from Glenville High School in Cleveland and Western Reserve in 1952, then went on to receive his medical degree in 1956 from the Ohio State University, to which he regularly returned for Buckeye homecoming games. After interning in New Orleans, he met his wife of 60 years, Judith (Crowley) Bellin, while she was a nursing student and he was a newly fledged physician in Madison, Indiana. In Pittsburgh, where he and Judith moved in 1961, he began his residency at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, working there until his retirement. Throughout his working life, he was an advocate for the young, the poor, and those suffering from physical and mental illness. When he learned that Pittsburgh had no chapter of Big Brothers, he convened a group of fellow Pittsburghers whose efforts resulted in the establishment of a local chapter in 1965. An outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, he was also a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility and Physicians for a National Health Program. On a less noted but no less significant level, he single-handedly waged a successful campaign to end Pittsburgh’s practice of spreading oil on community playing fields, which he believed was hazardous to children’s health. His faith in the power of selfless service is captured in a quotation he saved from George Eliot’s Middlemarch: “The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts, and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life and rest in unvisited tombs.” His own final resting place will be visited by all who share this credo, not least by his loving wife; his beloved children, Samuel A. (Sarah), Joshua D. (Christine), and Rebecca A. McGuire; and his six adored grandchildren, Eamonn, Lilly, Sammy, Jonah, Zack, and Warren. In addition to his immediate family, he is survived by his brother, Allan Bellin of Cleveland, OH, and his sister, Beverly Cassirer of La Mesa, CA. Services at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Avenue, Shadyside on Monday at 11 am. Visitation one hour prior (10 - 11 am). Interment Homewood Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh, 5989 Centre Ave., Suite 1, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, or to The Gamma Fund, c/o The Pittsburgh Foundation, Five PPG Place, Suite 250, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. www.schugar.com

Condolences

I'm so happy I had the privilege of knowing this kind and gentle soul! I will always be grateful for the love and generosity Marv and Judy showed me during my high school years and beyond. I send hugs and condolences to the whole family.