John-Michael Battaglia

Jan. 29, 1947 – June 4, 2016

John-Michael Battaglia, of Buffalo, a freelance film producer and writer, died Saturday in Hospice Buffalo, Cheektowaga, after a four-year battle with multiple myeloma. He was 69.

Born in Buffalo, he attended Bishop Timon High School and Colgate University, where he studied for a semester in London and graduated with honors with a bachelor's degree in English. He earned a master's degree in television, radio and film from Syracuse University, where he was a graduate teaching assistant.

He worked from 1968 to 1972 in the Peace Corps in Malaysia as an administrative coordinator for tuberculosis prevention in rural villages and wrote and produced short films on health and literacy for the National Film Department of Malaysia.

After the Peace Corps, Mr. Battaglia worked in Buffalo and the San Francisco area as a film producer, script writer and technical writer. He wrote, produced, directed, and edited marketing and training videos for companies and organizations ranging from Hewlett-Packard to the SUNY Research Foundation. He also did work for several high-tech startup companies.

He was a writer and producer for KTVU-TV in Oakland, Calif., and KGO-TV in San Francisco. In Buffalo, he was an internet writer and editor for WKBW-TV, a copywriter for Rich Advertising and publicity director for the first Greek Festival at the Hellenic Orthodox Church of the Annunciation.

On his website, he noted: "While I've always hoped – like every other dreamer in America – to sell a screenplay to Hollywood, fortunately I have found throughout my career that there are plenty of other opportunities to be creative and useful in the marketing and corporate communications sector."

His unfinished projects included a film biography of controversial psychoanalyst Dr. Wilhelm Reich and "The Empire Strikes Out," a memoir about his days working as a janitor at Lucasfilm in California.

Also an outstanding amateur bowler, he won numerous tournaments and registered at least half a dozen 300 games. For one of his perfect games, in a tournament qualifying round at Sheridan GameZone on New Year's Eve in 1998, he had to bowl a 13th strike because he had thrown one of his balls in the wrong lane. That night he set a house record of 857.

Survivors include a sister, Rebecca Covelli; and a brother, Paul.

Friends and family will hold a celebration of his life in early July.