John Benedict Leotta

John was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Giuseppe and Carmela Leotta, recent immigrants from Italy. With his brother Ben and sisters Evelyn and Elvira, he had a childhood full of friends and close family. While hosting a party at City College of New York, he met Eileen Amsterdam—dancing the night away and charming her with his sense of humor. They were married in 1966.

After graduating, John moved to Washington, D.C., following his brother Ben’s footsteps to begin a career in ship design with the U.S. Navy. He and Eileen settled in Oxon Hill, Maryland, where they raised three children: Michael, Carol, and Barbara. John was known for his ability to make anyone laugh and for showing his love by feeding people, whether by making his signature “sfincia” at parties or by ordering way too much food just so we could taste everything. At Christmas time, he led hilarious rounds of the Twelve Days of Christmas, often leaving the family in tears of laughter. He repeated to his children a Sicilian saying that teaches contentment: He who wants too much gets nothing.

John worked hard for the Navy and made lifelong friends at work, but he didn’t define himself by his career. He was happiest with his wife and children, and traveling back to New York or to Bethany Beach to spend time with his beloved parents, siblings, and relatives. This devotion to family is the strongest characteristic he instilled in his children.

After retiring from the Navy at 55 years old, John and Eileen moved to a house on the canal in South Bethany Beach, Delaware. It was a wonderful place to visit or spend the summer, and they lived there happily for many years. Eileen sang in a local a cappella group and John spent his days shopping for and cooking meals for Eileen.

Just as they began to welcome grandchildren, Eileen tragically succumbed to breast cancer in 2006 at the age of 62. John was heartbroken. Eileen had been known for her patience, kindness, and steadfast belief that one should put only love into the world. After her passing, John took up her mantle and strove to exemplify those qualities for the rest of his life. He carried through with all the things he knew were important to Eileen. He became a devoted and patient grandparent, which manifested in driving from the beach house to Maryland almost every week for the past 20 years so he could be present to change diapers (something he had never done with his own children) or to babysit one or all seven grandkids at a time.

John’s grandchildren know him as the most loving, patient, fun, and generous person they have ever met. He famously would never willingly let one of his children pay for any meal when he was present. He gifted his grandchildren bountifully on Christmas, for their birthdays, and for one dream-day at the beach each year. Being a grandfather was his life’s calling. He loved playing games with them, chasing them around, making them pose in different hats at the store, and just being wonderfully fun to be around. When the grandchildren were young, one of his favorite things was to countdown to the loudest yelling they could make—much to his children’s dismay. Perhaps most characteristically, he loved to cook and host dinners that seemed like feasts. A John Leotta meal was characterized by “abbondanza”—a multitude of different options for appetizers, main courses, and dessert, with so much of every item that if each guest were to eat only that one same thing, the meal would still be sufficient.

John fell seriously ill in the summer of 2026. He had long said he was ready to go to “the other side,” so although he humored the doctors and his children who spent every day with him in the hospital and rehab, his heart wasn’t in it. He refused various medical interventions that the doctors recommended. Doctors warned him that kidney disease and various other untreated ailments might kill him, but he insisted that he was ready: he had lived 83 years, had a wonderful life, saw his children grow up, loved his grandchildren, and wanted finally to be reunited with Eileen. On November 3, he was.

John is survived by his children Michael Leotta and wife Allison, Dr. Carol Sadorra and husband Robert, and Dr. Barbara Leotta and husband Mark; grandchildren Ben, Logan, Elise, Emily, Garrett, Julianne, John, and Henry; and siblings Benedict Leotta, Evelyn Randazzo and husband Bruno, and Elvira Bara and husband Lou. The family will have a celebration of John’s life at some point in the near future.