Rosario A. Zappulla
Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ
February 18, 2002
A Mass for Dr. Rosario A. Zappulla, M.D., Ph.D., 55, of Plainfield will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday in St. Raphael's Church, Livingston. Arrangements are by the Prout Funeral Home, Verona.
Dr. Zappulla died Thursday in Albuquerque, N.M., while attending a medical conference.
A board-certified neurosurgeon, Dr. Zappulla founded the New Jersey Neuroscience Institute, based at JFK Medical Center in Edison. Since its inception in 1992, he was responsible for making the institute a leader in the diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of patients with neurological disorders and illnesses, treating thousands of patients each year from the United States and abroad.
He was also a professor of neuroscience at the Seton Hall University School of Graduate Medical Education in South Orange.
Dr. Zappulla received a medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1972 and a doctorate in psychology from the City University of New York in 1984. He completed an internship in surgery at the University of Maryland from 1972-1973, and both a residency in neurosurgery and a fellowship in neurosurgery at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
A fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Zappulla was also a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, Society for Neuroscience and the American Epilepsy Society.
He received the Alumni Award from the City University of New York, the Stanley S. Bergen Award from the Alpha Epsilon Delta Chapter at Seton Hall University and the MEDINFO Gold Medal at the Fifth Congress on Medical Informatics in Washington, D.C. He also wrote articles and chapters for medical journals.
Born in Newark, Dr. Zappulla lived in Livingston and Wayne before moving to Plainfield two years ago.
Surviving are a daughter, Carey Ann Koehnen; his mother, Laura Zappulla; brothers, Ronald and Anthony, and his companion, Patricia Walling.
