Dr. Joseph Imperato, a nose and throat doctor who was born and raised in the Village, died on a trip to Rochester, N.Y., on Oct. 12. He was 70 years old and had been diagnosed with cancer but died of a heart attack, according to his son, Joseph.
The son of Rose and Salvatore Imperato, a Greenwich Ave. greengrocer, he went to St. Peter’s College in New Jersey and studied medicine at the University of Parma in Italy.
He interspersed his medical studies with periods of work in New York, his son said. He married Barbara Gray in 1963 while he was a student and the couple separated several years ago.
Joseph Imperato earned his medical degree from Parma in the early 1970s and became associated with the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary on 14th St. A jazz musician as a young man, he played clarinet and saxophone and was a constant theater patron and operagoer, his son said. He was a parishioner of Our Lady of Pompei at Carmine and Bleecker Sts. and assisted at Mass at the church.
In addition to his son, his daughter, Rose Imperato, of Austin, Tex., his former wife and his longtime companion, Suzie McGovern, also survive.
Perazzo Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. The funeral was Oct. 17 at Our Lady of Pompei.
