Obituary of Michael A. Passero

MICHAEL ANTHONY PASSERO, MD Michael Anthony Passero, M.D., Age 75, peacefully at home in Pittsburgh, PA on January 6th, 2021 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Son of the late Anthony and Concetta Passero, he grew up in a loving home in Newark, NJ. He spent most of his professional life in Providence, RI. His patients and their families fondly remember him as a knowledgeable, competent and compassionate pulmonary physician. He influenced generations of physicians teaching medical students, internal medicine residents and pulmonary fellows at the Roger Williams Medical Center and the Brown University Program in Medicine. A passionate audiophile he was a music major at Dartmouth College. He met his future wife, Mary Ann, at Dartmouth Medical School and received his MD at the Harvard Medical School. He was an internal medicine resident and pulmonary fellow at Duke University Hospital before serving 2 years in the US Army Medical Corps at Ireland Army Hospital in Fort Knox, KY. Although he had many intellectual interests including history, science and music, he also liked working with his hands. He built a center speaker to complement his Klipschorns, so that he could blast everything from Bach’s baroque cantatas to The Who’s rock opera in his living room in Barrington, RI. He and his family cruised Narragansett Bay in the 22 foot power boat which he maintained himself. He also worked on his 1960 Mark II Jaguar when he had any time to spare from his 50 or 60 hour work week. Above all he was a man who was interested in people. He took the time to listen to family, friends, colleagues, employees, patients and students. He remembered their names, their family members and their hobbies. If he was walking down a hallway in the hospital, buying groceries in the supermarket, or tinkering with his car, someone would always stop to talk to him. In addition to his loving wife of 51 years, he leaves his sons Michael and Christopher, daughters-in-law Parul Gujarathi and Vida Passero, granddaughters Evangelina and Cecilia, his brother Frank Passero and sister-in-law Rosara Passero and their children and grandchildren, his wife’s brothers and their families as well as numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. Donations in his name may be made to the charity of your choice. Online condolences may be left at www.mccabebrothers.com.