Frank E. Iaquinta, M.D., 98, beloved father, grandfather, and great grandfather, passed away on July 12, 2026, after a long battle with cancer.
Born on June 16, 1928, in New York, NY, Frank was the only child of Giuseppe Iaquinta and Pasqualina Battaglia. At just nineteen years old, he graduated from Columbia University with a B.A.; four years later, in 1951, he graduated from the Medical College of Physicians and Surgeons, M.D. Three days later, he married Mary Pennisi, with whom he would share six children and fifty-seven wonderful years.
Frank’s life was dedicated to his two great loves: his family and medicine. After completing his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Roosevelt Hospital in N.Y.C., he served as captain in the U.S. Air Force and chief of medical service for Malmstrom Air Force in Great Falls, Montana, from 1955-1957. Back in New York, he would practice at Roosevelt Hospital until 1975, taking on new responsibilities with verve; his roles included attending, OPS, in medicine, cardiac, and vascular, department director of Ambulatory Care, and program director of Primary Care. During this time, he also served as member of the Medical Board Executive Committee and chairman of the Appointments Committee and Ambulatory Care Committee.
In 1975, Dr. Iaquinta was named director of medicine at New Rochelle Hospital in New York, where, in his first year, he brought his knowledge from Roosevelt Hospital to spearhead the Department of Ambulatory Care—one of his proudest accomplishments. He held his role there until 1990, when he became chairman of medicine and director of medical education at the Brooklyn Hospital Center. Around this time, he also joined the Island Peer Review Organization in Lake Success, NY, one of the nation’s most experienced healthcare quality improvement organizations, where he served as medical director and chairman of the Credentials Committee until 2014. For the next six years he worked for the organization as an independent contractor, and in 2020 consulted for the Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company in East Meadow, NY.
Dr. Iaquinta’s career stretched over seventy remarkable years, and within those years he crossed paths with reputable hospitals, colleges, and universities. In addition to practicing, he also spent his life teaching generations of doctors who would go on to practice medicine across the country. In fact, most of the doctors whom he would visit as a patient were his own former students, including his final doctor at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx. While his contributions to the medical field were prolific, so too was Frank’s role in his ever-growing family. Among his most beloved qualities, he will be remembered for his gentle and caring disposition, his love for music and opera, and his bad luck in long games of cribbage.
Frank is survived by his five children: Anthony (Lynne), Frank (Sharon), Michael, Cathie, and Mary Ann; thirteen grandchildren: John, Helena, Antonia, Mario, Gina, Frankie, Lauren, Jessica, Brien, Jaclyn, Christian, Jenna, and Julia; and eight great-grandchildren: Cameron, Max, Gabriel, Francesca, Josefina, Jonathan, Caleb, and Francesco. He is pre-deceased by his wife, Mary, his son, Joseph, his daughter-in-law, Joy Ann,and his grandson David.
Services will take place at Yorktown Funeral Home (945 East Main St., Shrub Oak) on Thursday, July 16, from 4 to 8. p.m. The funeral Mass will be held at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church (1377 East Main St., Shrub Oak) on Friday, July 17, at 10 a.m. , followed by interment at Gate of Heaven in Valhalla.
