Porfirio A. Mariano, 73, of Lawrenceville died Thursday, Aug. 30, at home.
Born in La Vega, Dominican Republic, he lived in Lawrence since 1984. He graduated in 1954 from the University of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and completed residencies in surgery at Greenpoint and Cumberland hospitals in Brooklyn, N.Y.
He was a major in the Dominican Republic army and chief of surgery at the National Police Army Hospital in Santo Domingo. He returned to the United States in 1969 to work as a physician at Peoria State Hospital in Illinois. He was a physician with the Trenton Neighborhood Family Health Center from 1971 to 1973, when he opened a private practice.
He served a preceptorship in general practice and surgery in Maryland and had a private practice from 1975 to 1999. He retired from medicine in 2000. He held staff privileges in general surgery at Helene Fuld, Mercer and St. Francis Medical centers in Trenton and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton.
He was ECFMG certified and had medical licenses in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. He was a fellow with the Contemporary Medicine and Surgery Society and a member of the American Medical Association, New Jersey and Mercer County Medical societies, Hispanic-American Medical Association, American Professional Practice Association and Sociedad Medica Dominicana. He had been chairman of the pharmacy and therapeutic committee at RWJ-Hamilton and supervisor of surgical assistants at Mercer Medical Center.
He was a charter member of the Republican Presidential Task Force and received the Medal of Merit from President Ronald Reagan.
Son of the late Pantaleon and Juana Perez Mariano, he is survived by his wife, Nitza Yolanda Hernandez Mariano; four children, Celeste Mariano Eppinger and husband Michael of Hamilton, Angel Mariano of Miami, Milagros Mariano of Santiago, Dominican Republic, and Luis Mariano of Santo Domingo; seven grandchildren; and a brother, Lorenzo of the Dominican Republic.
The funeral will be 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4, at Poulson & Van Hise Funeral Directors, 650 Lawrence Road, with the Rev. Edward Dougherty officiating.
Private burial will be in Lawrenceville Cemetery.
Calling hours will be 5 p.m. until service at the funeral home.
Memorial contributions may be made to Samaritan Hospice, 5 Eves Drive, Suite 300, Marlton, NJ 08053; or the American Red Cross, 707 Alexander Road, Princeton, NJ 08540.
