Michael Barletta, of Garden City, longtime St. John's University pharmacology professor, dies at 84
Michael Barletta, a Garden City resident and longtime St. John's University professor of pharmacology, has died at age 84. Credit: Courtesy of the Barletta Family
Generations of St. John's University students benefited from pharmacology Professor Michael Barletta's deep well of knowledge, but they weren't the only ones.
A longtime Garden City resident, Barletta was also a reliable source of valuable information for his family and friends.
"If you had a question or were worried about taking a certain medication," Barletta's grandson, Michael Malaszczyk, 27, of Garden City, said, "you could call him and he would explain how it would affect you from head to toe."
Barletta, whose passion for pharmacology began on the streets of his native Brooklyn as a drugstore delivery boy, died Oct. 24 after a stroke, his family said. He was 84.
"Teaching was everything to him," his wife Helen said. "He could take the most complex concept and break it down for someone without being condescending."
Barletta, who was born in Brooklyn on July 15, 1942, attended St. John's and later earned a doctorate in cardiovascular pharmacology. In later years, he began researching holistic medicines for diabetes, said Helen, who met her future husband at St. John's.
The couple's eldest daughter, Lisa Marie Malaszczyk, 59, of Garden City, was born in New Mexico, where Michael Barletta served at the time with the U.S. Public Health Service Commission Corps. He eventually reached the rank of lieutenant with the uniformed service branch.
The Barlettas later returned to New York, where their second daughter, Alice Jeanne Abbas, 54, of Kissimmee, Florida, was born. That's also when Michael Barletta began his five decades on the faculty of St. John's College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
He led a busy life, Barletta's family said. Along with teaching, Barletta worked part-time over the years as a pharmacist in Garden City and at Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, now NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island. But his priorities were always in order.
"He never missed anything, whether it be a birthday, a concert or a graduation," Michael Malaszczyk said.
Along with his wife, daughters and grandson, Michael Barletta is survived by several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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