Dr. Michael T. Genco, 89, leader in the medical community

September November 18, 1933 – November 28, 2022

Dr. Michael Thomas Genco, a leader in the medical community, died Nov. 28 at the Sisters of Charity Hospital after a short illness. He was 89 years old.

Born in Buffalo, the eldest of four children, he grew up in the city’s West Side and Central Park neighborhoods. He worked in his family’s pharmacies and later in his father’s Blue Dew and Diaper Pure factory. He attended St. Mark’s School and graduated in 1951 from St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute. He attended the University at Buffalo for his undergraduate and medical degrees. On June 27, 1959, he married the former Ann Collard.

He served as a Navy Medical Officer from 1959 to 1961 in Quantico, Virginia. From 1962 to 1965, he was a neurology resident at Buffalo General Hospital and Cleveland University Hospitals.

Dr. Genco was in private practice from 1965 to 1992. With Dr. Donald Ehrenreich, he founded Buffalo Neurological Associates in 1967. The practice grew to five neurologists and merged with the Buffalo Medical Group in 1979. In addition to his successful medical practice, Dr. Genco in 1983 served as chairman of the medical and dental staff at Buffalo General Hospital.

In 1991, he was selected as Buffalo Medical Group’s first full-time medical director. Under his leadership, the Buffalo Medical Group grew to 90 physicians, and he personally oversaw the construction and opening of the Essjay Road office in Amherst. Additionally, he taught as an associate clinical professor for many years at UB Medical School. He retired in 1997.

Guided by his Catholic faith, Dr. Genco is committed to helping others and improving their quality of life. Reflecting on his father’s legacy, his son Eugene said: ‘It happened at least 20 times: I would meet a person and they would tell me that they or a family member had been referred to my father because they had a difficult medical problem. publish. They would inevitably tell me that my father had given them a clear and direct diagnosis with compassion and that they were so grateful. It’s a powerful and humbling experience to have people tell you that your father made such a difference in their lives.

Dr. Genco served on the Buffalo Club’s board of directors from 1983 until 1986, when he was elected president. He served on the board of directors of the Buffalo Country Club from 1989 to 1992, of which he was president in 1992. He served on the board of directors of the Automobile Club of Western New York from 1989 to 1991, of which he was served as president in 1991.

A member of the board of trustees of St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute from 1986 to 1991, he was honored by the school for career achievement in 1990. He also served on the board of trustees of Medaille College, today today Medaille University, in the 1980s.

In 1986, he and his wife built a second home at Crescent Beach in Fort Erie, Ontario, and spent summers and Christmases there as a family for over 30 years.

Dr. Genco was an avid golfer, squash and bridge player, playing in a weekly game of bridge until the time of his death.

He was immensely proud of his Italian heritage and loved stopping at Niagara Street for a plate of clams or going to the old Romanello’s Roseland on Rhode Island Street for a pasta dinner.

Surviving in addition to his wife of 63 years are two daughters, Ellen Genco and Susan Genco; three sons, Frank, Eugene and Gregory P.; one sister, Mary Frances Breen; and eight grandchildren.

A memorial mass is scheduled for July 2023.