Our People of the Century      Dr. Frank DeMaio: Physician's Varied Pursuits, Projects Put Him at Forefront

Almost everyone knows Frank DeMaio. The rest have seen or heard of him.

An internist and pulmonary specialist, the 68-year-old DeMaio has played Charles Landis on horseback at Vineland’s Founder’s Day. He’s written, designed, built and presented exhibits for his annual Italian Heritage Month presentation at the Vineland Public Library.

“I love to solve problems,” DeMaio says, using the common thread to stich together medicine, woodworking, painting, photography, picture framing, history and dozens of other pursuits.

The son of Italian immigrants who settled in Landisville, DeMaio has practiced medicine in Vineland for nearly four decades. About seven years ago, he decided he was too much of a hermit, migrating between home and hospital, and began sharing his hobbies and his passions with his community.

He has a knack for planting the seed of an idea, stepping back and watching what people will do with it.

He started Friends of Historic Vineland and recently orchestrated a medical history program –a living museum of battlefield medicine –for high school students and anyone else who is interested to learn.

With the consolidation of Newcomb Medical Center with hospitals in Bridgeton and Millville under the South Jersey Health System, DeMaio wants to preserve the rich history of local medicine. Someday he hopes the museum will have its own building, a place that will link past achievements with a future laced with potential.

“Frank dreams it and then makes it come true,” says Roseanne Hughes, a Newcomb nurse and secretary-treasurer of Friends of Historic Vineland.

Terri Spoltore, a Newcomb nurse, says DeMaio enlists the help of many to accomplish his goals.

“If Frank DeMaio asks you to do something, you do it,” says colleage and orthopaedic surgeon Seth Silver.

“When someone does good work and gives of himself as freely as he does, you want to say yes.”