Gerard Joseph Kinahan, a longtime local dentist, musician, and father of three, died at his North Truro home on Aug. 14, 2025. The cause was prostate cancer. He was 68.

“Gerry was a kind man with a generous spirit who was passionate about his community, his family, his friends, and his hobbies,” said his daughter Lucie. “He took care of the people he knew well — and also the people he knew not so well.”

Gerry was born in Boston on Christmas Day, 1956 to Adelina, a homemaker, and William Kinahan, who worked in broadcasting; they reared him and his three younger siblings in Roslindale. As the oldest child, he was forced to hone his caretaking skills early, at age 11, when his mother lost her sight in a car accident, and he helped look after his brother and two sisters while attending Boston Latin School.

He went on to Boston College as a day student, living at home, stocking shelves at a grocery store on the overnight shift, and using his beat-up car or bicycle to get to class. That, according to family lore, prompted him to take envious note of a Jaguar parked in a neighbor’s driveway and ask what its owner did for a living.

“I knew what I wanted,” Gerry told the Independent in 2022. “I wanted a nice car.”

It turned out that the neighbor was a dentist — which inspired Gerry to attend Tufts Dental School and graduate with a Doctor of Medical Dentistry degree in 1982.

Gerry’s first job was as a dentist in a New Hampshire prison. An ad in the paper for a job in North Truro piqued his interest about the area. He drove to the end of the Cape to check it out and wound up settling here for the rest of his life.

He first worked for a dentist in Yarmouth. Eventually, he opened his own practice in North Truro, first in his home and later in a newly constructed addition. And he parked not one but three sports cars — a BMW M5, an SL500 AMG Mercedes-Benz, and an SLK 230 AMG Mercedes-Benz — in his driveway.

Gerry married Liz Carver in 1986, and they bought their North Truro home in 1987, soon having three children together. But Liz left the family and moved out of the country when their youngest was seven, said their daughter Bridget; they divorced in 2002, and Gerry raised his children as a single dad.

Lucie remembers him treating his patients as friends, “with respect and compassion, keeping them laughing with his quick wit and twisted sense of humor.”

Bridget adds that he was “amazingly generous” both with his children and his patients, often doing dental work for free or in trade for art or other services when people had trouble paying. He ran his practice for 39 years until his 2022 retirement.

“It’s very, very gratifying,” the dentist told the Independent that year, particularly when it came to his diverse clientele. “They were just really interesting, or fun, or enjoyable, or crazy as a loon,” he said. “I had drag queens as patients. Famous people. Pulitzer Prize winners, Nobel Prize winners, a world-renowned this or that, TV personalities who had places down here. Retired college professors you could have really interesting conversations with — but only until the Novocain kicked in.”

Gerry also loved music. He could often be found playing his bass or guitar and, for many years, hosting weekly jam sessions in his attic. His children recall falling asleep to the sounds of him and his friends belting out “Lola” or “Psycho Killer.” He recorded two original albums, Live @ the Dentist and Agents of Change with his band, Freeze Bone.

“Something I always admired about him was how committed he was to his hobbies,” said Bridget, noting that his other passions included playing soccer, going to the beach, reading, watching Doctor Who, and dining at Liz’s Café in Provincetown, where he liked to sit at the corner of the bar. Despite working long hours and raising his kids, she said, “He found time to do the things he liked to do.”

Her father also prioritized friendships. “He had friends he’d known since first grade,” Bridget said. “And people told me what they loved is how he would do something that no one does anymore: He would just show up at people’s houses because he was driving by and he wanted to see how they were doing.”

Gerry enjoyed traveling in Europe, Canada, and the Caribbean and serving the community in a range of ways, including as a Cub Scout leader, an elementary school soccer coach, a Truro School Board member, a member of the beach commission, and as a sponsor of Truro Treasures weekend.

“He was a person who showed his love through his actions, and he was just a natural caretaker,” said Bridget. He died surrounded by friends and family, “relishing memories” of his life.

Gerry is survived by his sisters, Susan Kane of Dedham and Patricia Kinahan-Smith of Plainville; his brother, Michael Kinahan of Scituate; his daughters, Lucie Butler and husband Jeremiah of Easton and Bridget Kinahan and fiancé John Carney of Attleborough; his son, Ian, and partner Samantha Drown of Providence, R.I.; his grandchildren, Owen and Sophie; his cat, Wilson; and innumerable beloved friends.