Community philanthropist and noted plastic surgeon Edward Pechter died suddenly Wednesday afternoon at his home.

Colleague and long-time friend Ron Singer, whose dental office is in the same building as Pechter’s suite said that he was told Pechter had a heart attack in the late afternoon and was found at home by a close friend. Singer said he had invited Pechter to a concert Wednesday, but that Pechter was planning on dining with his daughter.

“We’ve been great friends for more than 30 years and I would see him all the time,” Singer said. “Such a dear guy, a great surgeon and a good friend. He was a wonderful person and should be recognized for his contributions to the community.”

Singer added that Pechter was planning on taking a trip to Israel later this week.

According to Pechter’s website, the doctor had been in practice for more than 20 years. Pechter trained in the prestigious Division of Plastic Surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he had a teaching affiliation. In 2005, he was honored with the UCLA Plastic Surgery Clinical Faculty Teaching Award for Excellence in Resident Education.

Pechter was also busy outside of the operating room. He was a writer and inventor, patenting a bra measuring system, the Morris Crisscross suture technique, the grid/staple adjunct to abdominoplasty, and a copyrighted worksheet for solving the popular number puzzle, Sudoku.

Funeral plans are pending.