Baltimore doctor Joseph Costa, a health care worker on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, died Saturday after contracting the coronavirus he was working to treat.

Costa, the chief of the critical care division at Mercy Medical Center was a scientist who “lived through his brain” and loved his job more than anything in the world, said David Hart, his husband of 28 years. As he lay dying, about 20 colleagues held a vigil and placed their blue-gloved hands on him. “Those who cared for Joe were his best friends,” Hart said. “A housekeeper who knelt by his bed and shook with grief said, ‘I’m now losing my best friend.’”

Hart said he placed his cheek next to Costa’s and held his husband in his arms until he died around 4:45 a.m. Costa graduated from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1990. He had worked for Mercy since 1997, specializing in pulmonary and critical care, and served as chief of the Division of Critical Care for the last 15 years. He served as an officer in multiple roles since 2010, including secretary/treasurer, vice president and medical staff president from 2014 to 2016.

Costa also chaired the Medical Morals Committee and served as a member of the Mercy Health Services Board of Trustees Mission and Corporate Ethics Committee.

Hart described Costa as an “egalitarian person” who arrived early to work and frequently volunteered to work holidays so that his colleagues with children wouldn’t have to, he said. Outside of work, Costa was a voracious reader and fluent in German and Italian. The couple’s Bolton Hill house is filled with “stacks and stacks” of books, Hart said. For the last three years, Costa read mostly Italian works.

Costa was also a talented pianist and had recently learned to play the mandolin, Hart said.

A year or so ago, the couple purchased a farm in Shaftsbury, Vermont, where they enjoyed spending time together.

“Being married to a doctor isn’t easy and you give up a lot,” Hart said. “When Joe and I were at the farm we always had such a good time. He was a workaholic and he told me I taught him how to relax.” As posted in The Baltimore Sun