Dr. Lelio Narcisco Passaglia

Dr. Lelio N. Passaglia, 86, of Exmore, Virginia, passed away on Monday, February 21, 2011. A former resident of Saddle River, New Jersey, Dr. Passaglia and his beloved wife of 45 years, Peggy Scott Passaglia, chose the Eastern Shore for their retirement in 1996. Born in Viareggio, Toscana, Italy on February 13th 1925, Dr. Passaglia was the only son of Carlo and Nina Barsella Passaglia. He graduated from Liceo Scientifico Ulisse Dini in the city of the Pisa. Dr. Passaglia received a medical degree from The University of Bologna Medical School in 1952. That same year, he immigrated to the United States and served one year of a rotating Internship and three years of Residency in Internal Medicine at Morrisania City Hospital, The Bronx, New York, and Goldwater Memorial Hospital, Third New York University Division in New York City and Hackensack Hospital, presently Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, New Jersey. Dr. Passaglia served a sixteen month Residency in Psychiatry at Greystone State Hospital in New Jersey. In 1956 Dr. Passaglia pursued his dream and became a United States citizen. In 1957 Dr. Passaglia joined the staff of Hackensack Hospital and became Board Certified in Internal Medicine. He was an attending in Internal Medicine and Cardiology. That same year, he established a private practice in Internal Medicine in Bogota, New Jersey, which he continued for thirty three years. In 1982 he was given the Chairmanship of the Quality Assurance and Utilization Committee in which he also became Board Certified. Dr. Passaglia was a member of the Cardiology division of the Department of Internal Medicine at Hackensack Hospital from 1959 to 1996. He was executive Director of the Medical centers Quality improvement program from 1986 to 1993 and Chairman of The Quality Council from 1990 to 1996. November of 1986, he assumed the position of Executive Director of Medical Performance and Risk Management. During his tenure in that position, Dr. Passaglia developed a system of measurement of the physician's performance, thus placing Hackensack University Medical Center among the pioneers in establishing a computerized medical performance assessment. He was a member of the American College of Physicians, the American Society of Internal Medicine, and the American society of Quality Assurance-Utilization Review Physicians, the Bergen County Medical Society and the New Jersey Medical Society. The son of a sea captain, Dr. Passaglia had a lifelong love affair with the sea. At the age of 2 months he and his mother joined his father, sailing from Nice, France on the vessel "Marcell B". This excursion took him over the entire Mediterranean Sea. Summer sailing continued through-out his childhood years. He carried the love of the sea with him all his life. Dr. Passaglia was a founding member of the prestigious "Les Amis du Vin" Society ("The friends of wine") in New Jersey. By his own hand, he built a brick, 5,000 bottle wine cellar in his Saddle River home that rivaled all important cellars in the Northeast. As he and Peggy built a new life on the Eastern Shore, they became active participants in the Science Philosophy seminars at Eastern Shore Community College. Birding was another passion, along with Opera and the Arts. For many years, in a cottage at the Passaglia home in Exmore, Dr. Passaglis held bimonthly evenings to share his "ceiling to floor" tapes from universities all over the country. History and Opera were his favorites. He was a born teacher and generous in enriching the lives of his friends. His friends endearingly referred to this as "The Culture Cottage". He was a past member of The Eastern Shore Yacht and Country Club. Dr. Passaglia was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife Peggy, his sons, Carlo Passaglia and his wife, Patricia of Wayne, New Jersey and Brian Scott Passaglia of Johnsburg, New York, four grandchildren, Marc, Eric, Stefano and Lauren, his sister-in-law, Nancy Scott Fadynich, her husband Alex and their children and grandchildren of Pines Lake, New Jersey. In Tuscany, Italy he is survived by his sister Ursolina Passaglia Corso and husband Stephano, their children and grandchildren, in addition to many loving family members. At the request of Dr. Passaglia no service will be held. Arrangements were made by the Doughty Funeral Home, Exmore, Virginia. Online condolences may be sent to www.doughtyfuneralhome.com. In honor of Dr. Passaglia, the family requests donations are made in his name to Hospice and Palliative Care of the Eastern Shore, 165 Market St., Suite #3, Onancock, Virginia 23417.