Dr. Thomas Mauro Nardozzo

Feb. 12, 2013

Dr. Thomas Mauro Nardozzo, of State College, died on Feb. 12, 2013, at the Fairways of Brookline after an extended illness.

Dr. Nardozzo was born June 25, 1934 in Nanticoke, a son of Mauro Francis Nardozzo and Helen Wojciehowski, who predeceased him.

Dr. Nardozzo graduated from Nanticoke High School in 1952. From 1952 to 1954, he attended Penn State University on a football scholarship playing the guard position. Due to a career-ending football injury, Dr. Nardozzo then enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Dental Medicine. From 1958 to 1959, Dr. Nardozzo did his internship at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. He then completed a year studying anesthesiology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. From 1960 to 1961, Dr. Nardozzo was the Chief Resident for Oral Maxillofacial Surgery at the New York University-Cornell Medical Center in New York City.

After completing his residency, Dr. Nardozzo was warned by many of his colleagues to rethink his decision to open a practice in State College. It was considered farm country with a transient population. However, he decided to open the first oral and maxillofacial practice in Centre County and never regretted his decision. In 1961, he started his practice in State College.

Throughout the years, he developed a successful practice to include several other partners with satellite offices in Clearfield and Lewistown. He was on call at Centre Community Hospital, Phillipsburg Hospital, Clearfield Hospital, Lewistown Hospital and Rockview Prison.

Dr. Nardozzo was first in the area to perform many complex medical procedures including, but not limited to, facial bone fractures, congenital facial bone deformities and multiple intra-oral and extra-oral surgical procedures of the head, neck and face. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was performing extensive oral implant and full reconstructive surgeries.

The International Association of Oral Implantology invited Dr. Nardozzo to Paris to give a presentation on implant procedures.

After 37 years of practice, Dr. Nardozzo retired from Tri-County Oral-Facial Surgeons in 1998.

He was a member of the following associations: the Centre County Dental Society; the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons; the Pennsylvania Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons; the Central Pennsylvania Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons; the American Dental Association; the International Federation of Dentists; the International Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons; the International Society of Oral Implantologists; the American Society of Dental Consultants; the William E. Harrigan Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons; the Fellow International Association for Oral Maxillofacial Surgery; the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons; the American Society of Implantology; and the Robert V. Walker Foundation. Dr. Nardozzo was also the president of the Western Pennsylvania Oral Society.

Dr. Nardozzo was a lifetime member of the Penn State Letterman's Club and the Nittany Lions Club. He was also a member of the Mt. Nittany Society of Penn State, Phi Mu Delta Fraternity, Psi Omega Fraternity of Pittsburgh and a life member of the Elks Club.

Dr. Nardozzo also served in the U.S. Navy with a rank of lieutenant commander during his residency at New York University Hospital.

Tom loved the game of golf, which he played worldwide and with his golf friends at Centre Hills Country Club, where he was a member since 1961. He also participated in several golf tournaments, including the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Golf Classic, the Pebble Beach National Pro AM and the Bob Hope Golf Classic, where he was a personal guest of Bob Hope. He was also a member of the Western Italian Golf Association and the North American Medical Golf Association, where he participated in several Ryder Cup golf tournaments against the British Medical Golf Association.

Dr. Nardozzo is survived by his beloved children, Kelly Nardozzo Dinsmore and her husband, George, State College; Thomas M. Nardozzo Jr. and his wife, Betty Jo, Charlotte, N.C.; Daniel B. Nardozzo and his wife, Cathy, Potters Mills, Pa., and Mauro F. Nardozzo of Wilkes-Barre. Dr. Nardozzo was also very proud of his four grandchildren, Lindsey Dinsmore, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Andrew Dinsmore, Philadelphia; Christopher Dinsmore, State College, and Paige Nardozzo, Potters Mills. He is also survived by former wives, Deanna Hayes Nardozzo, State College, and Jeannette Scacco, Nanticoke.

The Nardozzo family would like to extend a special thank you to Brookline and Home Nursing Agency nursing and support staff.

A celebration of Dr. Nardozzo's life will be held at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church, 820 Westerly Parkway, State College, on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m. with Monsignor David Lockhard officiating. Interment will be private and at the convenience of the family. The family will be providing flowers at the funeral.

The family asks that any donations be sent to the Centre Volunteers in Medicine, 2520 Green Tech Drive, Suite D, State College, PA 16803. In the memo line of a check, please note "In Memory of Dr. Thomas Nardozzo."

The Mark D. Heintzelman Funeral and Cremation Services, 226 S. Pennsylvania Ave., Centre Hall, has been entrusted with the arrangements. A guestbook can be signed and condolences sent to the family at www.heintzelmanfuneralhome.com.