Beloved father, husband and friend, Dr. John Joseph Vecchione of Old Greenwich, CT went Home to the Lord surrounded by his family and fortified by his Faith at Stamford Hospital on January 14, 2019.
Dr. Vecchione, a former Director of Pulmonary Medicine at Goldwater Hospital on Roosevelt Island, NY, was born on February 4, 1936 in Woodhaven, New York to Giovanni and Rose Vecchione. He attended St. John's University New York where he completed both a B.S. in Chemistry and M.S. in microbiology at just 22. There he met Jane Julian of Brooklyn, NY, who would become his wife.
Dr. Vecchione graduated medical school from the University of Bologna, Italy in 1963. He and Jane were married there in 1962. He served in internal medicine at Long Island College Hospital from 1963-66, and then answered his country's call and served with the United States Army Medical Corps in Germany. Upon honorable discharge as a Major, he returned to the Long Island College Hospital, and also maintained an active private practice on Henry Street for nearly two decades. In the early 70's he completed a pulmonary fellowship at St. Luke's Medical Center, NY where he began training younger physicians and contributed to one of the first peer reviewed articles on flexible fiber optic bronchoscopy.
Dr. Vecchione took an active part in training such physicians and was a Clinical Professor of Medicine, first at Downstate, Brooklyn, and later for NYU Medical Center. He contributed to many peer reviewed articles on how to wean patients from ventilators even after his retirement in 2006. This research liberated patients from ventilator support and such work was highlighted in a 2001 New York Times article. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/24/health/as-technology-improves-more-people-breathe-with-machines.html. He belonged to the American College of Medicine and was a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians.
Dr. Vecchione moved to Old Greenwich, CT with his family in 1977. A beloved and active parishioner at St. Catherine of Sienna, Dr. Vecchione cooked with the soup kitchen team and also volunteered at Nathaniel Witherall Nursing home. He traveled widely on four continents. He was a great lover of the sea on both sail boats, and his trusty Grady White on which he took his grandsons fishing.
He is survived by wife Jane, three children, John Vecchione, Brenda Spezialy and Laura Vecchione, his brother Vincent, three grandchildren, Joe, Tommy and Hudson and many cousins, nieces and nephews.
John died from complications of pulmonary disease which he spent so much of his life combating. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the American Cancer Society or the American Lung Association in his name.
A wake will be at Leo P. Gallagher Funeral Home in Greenwich, CT, 31 Arch St., Greenwich, CT 06830 between 4 and 7 p.m. on Friday, January 18, 2019. A funeral mass will be held at St. Catherine's of Sienna on Saturday, January 19th at 11 a.m. with reception to follow. Contact Gallagher's for further information.
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