Thomas Roger Sweeny MD

Thomas Roger Sweeney, MD, died August 18, 2025, in Rochester, New York

Born November 27, 1928, in Buffalo, New York to Thomas Martin and Ethel Magdaline (Rogers) Sweeney, the eldest of three brothers. He graduated from Canisius High School and Canisius College, and then from the St. Louis University School of Medicine in 1954, marrying Jeanne Marie Dorlac of Desoto, Missouri that same year.

He completed internship at Sisters Hospital and Emergency Hospital in Buffalo and served two years in the United States Navy attached to the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia where he also ran a part-time family practice with his friend, Dr. Mo Nafzinger. He completed residency in the Tufts University Obstetrics and Gynecology program at Carney-St. Margaret's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He and Jeanne moved to Rochester, New York in 1960 and established the first Obstetrics and Gynecology practice in Greece, New York, later known as Greece OB Gyn Associates, delivering babies and operating at Rochester General Hospital.

Tom developed a love for the water, working summers in college as a seaman and coal passer on the Great Lakes freighter Consumers Power. He liked nothing better than to sail his Sunfish from the Pultneyville Mariners and later his 23-foot O'Day, appropriately named the "Off Call," from Shumway Marine, out onto Lake Ontario. He shared his last five years on the "Off Call" with his good friend, David Kirkpatrick.

He loved his family and the practice of medicine above all else, saying that a good doctor must be "available, affable, and able." It was not unusual for him to get a hug from a patient while out at a restaurant, even at the age of 94, such were the physician-patient relationships he formed over his many years of practice. He finally retired completely if reluctantly in 2011, leaving the wonderful people who he so cherished at Greece OB Gyn Associates and Rochester General Hospital.

He is pre-deceased by his wife Jeanne, his infant daughter Jeanne Marie, his brothers Bill and Joe, and his parents. He is survived by his sons; Tom (Anna Maria), John (Maura Louise); daughter Maura (Kevin), six grandchildren: Eva (Juan Pablo), Anne Marie (Sean), Lisa (Ryan), Sean (Jessica), Emma (Brian), Brian, and six great-grandchildren (Ryan, Thomas, Everly, Fiona, Kinsley and Juan Sebastian).

We are most grateful to the staff at St. Ann's Community at Cherry Ridge, Dr. Petrone and her associates at Cherry Ridge, Maplewood Rehabilitation and Nursing, and Dr. Kane and her associates at Maplewood, all in Webster. And to the lifeguards and staff of the Maplewood YMCA and the Webster Aquatic Center where he loved to swim his laps.

Visitation Friday, August 29, 2025, from 4 pm to 7 pm at Anthony Funeral Chapel, 1031 Ridge Road, Webster, NY 14580. Funeral Mass Saturday, August 30, 2025, at 10 am at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 4536 St. Paul Blvd., Irondequoit, NY 14617. Following mass, friends and family are invited to gather for lunch at the Club Room at Cherry Ridge, 900 Cherry Ridge Blvd., Webster, NY 14580. Interment to follow at Lakeview Cemetery overlooking Conesus Lake, Groveland, New York.

Contributions in his memory may be made to Birthright of Rochester and the Maplewood YMCA.