Dr. Perrotta was a dear parishioner of the Assumption community and our prayers are with his family during this time.
Dr. Perrotta died on November 24, 2019 at the age of 80 from kidney cancer that had already spread to his spine at the time of diagnosis in April of 2018. Since that time he was under the superb care of his primary care internist, Robert Barnes, DO and medical oncologist, Matthew Cotant, MD.
Augie graduated from St. Frances of Rome parochial school in the Bronx, N.Y and was educated by the Jesuits for 8 years at Fordham Prep and Fordham College also in the Bronx. It was there that he adopted the Jesuit mantra to be “a man for others.” Of Italian heritage, he was proud that he was the son of an Italian immigrant and was recognized as the “Italian-American Physician of the Year” by the Italian Study Group of Troy.
A Sigma Sigma Phi honors graduate of the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, he interned at Detroit Osteopathic Hospital and served an internal medicine residency at Oklahoma Osteopathic Hospital in Tulsa.
Following a 3 year fellowship in Hematology at the University of Washington in Seattle he was awarded a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. For the ten years prior to his retirement from the practice of Hematology and Medical Oncology, he was chairman of the Department of Medicine and chief of the section of Hematology/Oncology at Henry Ford Hospital-Warren, MI. He was an Emeritus Professor of Medicine at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Perrotta was the author, coauthor or senior author of 50 abstracts, articles in peer-reviewed journals, and a chapter in two editions of the text, Foundations of Osteopathic Medicine, entitled “Osteopathic Considerations in Oncology.” His retirement project was the publication of 15 medically-oriented short-stories entitled “A View from the Inside.” The non-fiction book is about public and private personalities and characters he had encountered in his personal and professional life and his connection to them. It was written for a general audience and included, among others, Babe Ruth, Ezzard Charles, John J. Bonica, MD, E. Donnall Thomas, MD and Andrea Bocelli.
Dr. Perrotta was a major proponent and supporter of the prolife movement as President of the Birmingham/ Bloomfield affiliate of Right to Life of Michigan for over 20 years and a board member of the John Paul II Bioethics Commission for 10 years. A third degree Knight of Columbus since the age of 22, he was a founding and Life Member of the Holy Name Council #14018. He was made an honorary member of the United States Marine Corp-Michigan Marine Corp League in November 2018. His retirement years were enriched by active membership in the Senior Men’s Club of Birmingham where he was a member of the Executive Board and participated in several group activities.
Dr. Perrotta will be buried in his family plot in Gate of Heaven, Valhalla, NY along with his father Augustine Vincent, mother Louise Ann, and sister Carole Ann. The headstone reads-“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” with a figure of the Good Samaritan ministering to the roadside victim. He is survived by his devoted wife of 49 years-Dorothy Ann, brother-Richard C. Perrotta, DO and children-Augustine Richard (Vanessa Wara), Grace Ann (Patrick Byrnes), Michael Vincent (Michelle Lobsinger) and grandchildren Michael, William and Caroline Byrnes.
The Perrotta family will receive friends Friday, November 29, 2019 from 2-8pm at A. J. Desmond & Sons (Vasu, Rodgers & Connell Chapel), 32515 Woodward Ave. (btwn 13-14 Mile), (248) 549-0500. Between 7 and 8pm is reserved for eulogies, remembrances and humorous anecdotes about his life. All are invited to participate. The visitation will close with the playing of Antonin Dvorak’s “Going Home” by Dr. Douglas Winstanley on the bagpipe.
The Funeral Mass will be on Saturday November 30, 2019, 11am at Holy Name Catholic Church 630 Harmon St., Birmingham. Visitation at church begins at 10am.
Memorial donations can be made to the Senior Men’s Club of Birmingham at The Community House, 380 Bates St. Birmingham, MI 48009