Alumnus Spent a Lifetime as an Administrator Steeped in Compassionate Care

They gave him a few options; he went on an interview at St. Charles Orthopedic Hospital for Children and got the job. "I don’t know where I would’ve ended without their help," he said.

He added with a laugh, “Because it was a small hospital, I came in as the controller, the admitting director, and the personnel director. I did everything, I got thrown into the deep end.”

Mr. Cianciotto would remain in the Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn and Queens for the next 36 years, most notably as Executive Director at Mary Immaculate and St. Joseph’s Hospitals.

He primarily attended the University’s campus on Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn, NY, which opened in 1929 and closed in 1972. He also had a handful of classes on the Queens, NY, campus.

“Going to St. John’s in Brooklyn was an experience. They didn’t have dorms then, and everybody who went there was from the city: Brooklyn, Manhattan, or the Bronx,” he said.

Mr. Cianciotto fondly recalled playing intramural basketball with his Rho Kappa Sigma fraternity brothers at the Brooklyn campus’s gym on the 13th floor.

“I enjoyed working as the administrator of a hospital,” Mr. Cianciotto observed, noting it was the position where he believed he could do much good.

Mary Immaculate was a level-one trauma unit, and he worked very closely with the New York City Police and Fire Departments to ensure they would receive the best possible care during and after an emergency.

A fellow doctor informed Mr. Cianciotto about a patient in Guyana who would likely need his legs amputated unless he received a higher degree of medical care. “He said, ‘If I get him into this country, I can probably help him.’ So, I sponsored him to get him into the US.”

About six months later, Mr. Cianciotto got an unfamiliar knock on his door. “It was this gentleman coming to thank me for getting him into this country. He said that he danced at his sister’s wedding thanks to me. That’s the part of my career I enjoyed the most.”

During Mr. Cianciotto’s time at both hospitals, he never forgot St. John’s. He worked closely with Joseph Sciame ’71Ed, retired Vice President, Office of Community Relations, on matters related to students’ health.

In 2003, Mr. Cianciotto joined Jzanus Ltd. as a Senior Account Executive, and within two years (while still under the umbrella of Jzanus) he was appointed Acting Chief Executive Officer for New Island Hospital, and then Long Beach Medical Center. Though semiretired, he continues to work with several hospitals while still at Jzanus.

Mr. Cianciotto related a story in which he helped a St. John’s student obtain a position when he needed work to continue funding his education. Nearly two decades later, that same alumnus offered him a position.

“That speaks volumes about the kind of people St. John’s produces,” he said. “Thanks to St. John’s getting me that interview, I’ve been in health care now for more than 50 years. I am very appreciative of the education I received.”