by Joan Giangrasse Kates

Santina "Sonny" Litturi was one of just two women in her dental school's graduating class in the late 1940s and became the first female appointed to the Illinois State Board of Dental Examiners in 1979. "Sonny was a trailblazer in dentistry, doing what very few women of her generation did back then," said Frank Maggio, an Elgin periodontist and longtime colleague. "She had a long, successful career. She paved the way for so many others."

Litturi, 91, of Elmwood Park, died of heart failure on May 22 at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn. "She was a wonderful dentist, smart and very dedicated to her patients," said Tom Powell, an Evergreen Park orthodontist. "She was confident, caring, opinionated and outgoing. When she spoke, it came straight from her heart."

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Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/