After the transplant, Mrs. Goldglantz worked as a medical-practice manager for a group of gastroenterologists and founded the Women's League for Kidney Research.
In 1996, for their 25th wedding anniversary, she and her husband took a cruise around the world, renewing their vows aboard ship.
By 1997, though, Mrs. Goldglantz had rejected her sister's kidney and was forced to return to dialysis. Her family began a desperate search to find a new donor, recruiting friends to be tested.
One was Penny Silver, who had been Mrs. Goldglantz's best friend since they were teenagers. She turned out to have blood cells that were unusually well matched.
When the operation was performed in 1998, Dr. R. Patrick Wood of the National Kidney Foundation said few kidney patients could endure a fourth transplant, and even fewer did it with the help of a friend.
"It's really the exception rather than the rule," Wood said.
After the transplant, Mrs. Goldglantz was active with the National Kidney Foundation, in addition to the Women's League for Kidney Research.
She loved shopping, travel, and the ocean, her husband said. The couple, who met on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, had a vacation home in Ventnor.
Even during her final two-year battle with cancer, she remained upbeat and busy, her husband said.
One of her physicians, Christopher J. Miller, said, "She did an amazing job to have as enjoyable a life as possible. It was a privilege to spend time with her."
Mrs. Goldglantz grew up in Logan. After graduating from Olney High School, she managed an office for two psychiatrists for several years.
She is survived by her husband and sister.
A life celebration will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, at Goldsteins' Rosenberg's Raphael-Sacks Suburban North Chapel, 310 Second Street Pike, Southampton. Entombment will be in Montefiore Cemetery, Rockledge.
Donations may be made to in honor of Gayle Goldglantz to the Skin Cancer Program at Penn Abramson Cancer Center, Penn Medical Development, Suite 750, 3535 Market St., Philadelphia 19104.
Contact staff writer Sally A. Downey at 215-854-2913 or sdowney@phillynews.com.
