University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

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Published: August 2, 2012

Funeral services were held July 27 in Queen of Heaven Catholic Church, West Seneca, for Joseph Edward Margarone Jr., an oral surgeon and a former department chair in the School of Dental Medicine, who died unexpectedly July 24 in Mercy Hospital in Buffalo. He was 75.

Chair of the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery from 1983 to 1997, Margarone was instrumental in creating a program with medical school to train oral surgeons as physicians.

While he maintained a practice in offices on High Street from 1965 to 1980, he also was a clinical instructor and a clinical assistant professor at UB. He became a full-time clinical associate professor in 1980, an associate professor in 1985 and professor emeritus in 1997.

With Ugo Covani, he established the annual surgical anatomy and advanced implantology courses at UB for visiting dentists from Italy. Fluent in Italian, he also lectured on dental topics in Italy during a sabbatical in 1985.

He was director of the UB oral and maxillofacial surgery training program and director of the oral surgery training program at Buffalo General Hospital. He was the first dentist to serve as president of the medical and dental staff at Buffalo General.

A board examiner for the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Margarone also was a board member of BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York. He had been a member of the scientific staff in the Erie County Sheriff's Office since 1972.

Margarone was a past president of Delta Sigma Delta dental fraternity and the Western New York Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. His brother is a dentist as was his father, and one of his sons is an oral surgeon.

An amateur radio operator for more than 60 years, Margarone was a life member of the American Radio Relay League. He also was an avid jazz pianist, amateur photographer, gardener and World War II historian. He also was an instrument-rated private pilot and owned a Piper Cherokee 140 with a friend.

Surviving are his wife of 52 years, the former Teresa Rose Schwab; two sons, Joseph E. III and John R.; two daughters, Teresa A. Maida and Sandra P. Goel; and a brother, Paul P.