Mario Branciforte

On February 20, 2025, our family lost Mario Branciforte, but have full confidence that although he is absent from the body, he is now present with the Lord. In fact, we are certain he is now in deep conversation with the heroes of the faith he so loved to study.

The oldest of five children in a boisterous Italian family, Mario grew up on Long Island and was active in the Boy Scouts and worked to become an Eagle Scout. He loved to tell stories of going camping with his troop and amazing the leaders by cooking full spaghetti dinners over the campfire. After high school, Mario attended the Naval Academy and Washington Bible College in Maryland. He came to faith during that time and met his future wife, Georgiana, in a Bible class at church. They married in 1976 and welcomed their daughters Angela, Kristina, and Bethany in the years to follow. The daughters remember Nerf sword and rubber band battles with their dad in their home in New York. The family also remembers his love for Broadway musicals and plays and being able to perform in amateur productions of them during the time the family lived in Pennsylvania. He was in his glory playing the rabbi in a production of Fiddler on the Roof.

While Mario was a computer programmer by profession, his identity as a Christ follower is what best defined him. He led Bible studies both at church and home, would often have four different Bible translations open on his tablet at a time when doing his devotions or leading a group, and loved to share the Gospel message with people he met. As many of his coworkers were Jewish while he was working in New York City, Mario had many theological discussions with them that led to him hosting Messianic seders for years. He and Georgiana also lived out their faith by caring for ten foster babies over the course of three years. Mario was thrilled to combine his profession and faith when he was hired to work at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs and worked there until his retirement in 2019.

Mario loved to debate and had encyclopedic knowledge of electric cars and science fiction. He relished the fact that he shared a birthday with Mark Hamel and his time watching K-dramas with Georgiana. Baking was a passion for Mario and he often experimented with new recipes in the kitchen. After visiting the United Kingdom, where he had tea in a castle, he enjoyed having tea time with Georgiana at home. And recently, he found joy in fostering and rehabilitating cats with medical issues through Happy Cat Haven.

Our family mourns the loss of Mario, but finds hope and peace in the promise that we will be together again in eternity.

Times and locations of services will be determined in the near future.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Mario’s memory to:

Happy Cat Haven: https://happycatshaven.org/animal-shelter-donations/

Focus on the Family: https://www.focusonthefamily.com/giving/