Memorial Gala a Ringing Success

Niagara Reporter- · January 19, 2017

SharefXin✉

niagara-falls-mem-adj

The Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center’s marquee event, the Premier, was a star-studded success last Saturday night at the Seneca Niagara Casino, attracting close to 1,000 people who clearly had a wonderful time contributing and mingling with some of the area’s biggest names as well as many guests from the everyday world.
Ch. 2 news anchor Maryalice Demler once again served as emcee and she kept things moving quite nicely after the guests had enjoyed a superb dinner, introducing Memorial President and CEO Joseph Ruffolo who outlined the major advancements at the Medical Center, including the opening in 2016 of the new Golisano Center for Community Health, the result of the $3.5 million lead gift from former Sabres owner Tom Golisano.

Ruffolo also spoke of the contributions to the hospital and the community by the gala’s top award recipients, attorney James Roscetti and Dr. Komal Chandan. Roscetti, a partner in the Roscetti & DeCatro law firm, also serves as chairman of the board of the hospital. Dr. Chandan, a family practice physician, currently serves as medical director of Memorial’s Schoellkopf Health Center.
It would be near impossible to name all of the celebrity guests in attendance, but they included:

-Henry Wojtaszek, political power broker and president and CEO of Western OTB
-Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, Lewiston Mayor Terry Collesano, and former Lewiston Mayor Dick Soluri
-Former State Sen. George Maziarz
-Niagara County Legislator Dennis Virtuoso
-Paul Grenga of the One Niagara Welcome Center
-Restaurateur Russ Salvatore

Memorial Medical Center is the only hospital in Niagara Falls and the leading teaching hospital in Niagara County. The 171-bed hospital has an adjacent 120-bed skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility (Schoellkopf) and outpatient centers in Niagara Falls, Lewiston, Town of Niagara, Wheatfield, Grand Island, and North Tonawanda.

This fall, Memorial will admit its first patients to an all-new $4.3 million inpatient Cardiac/Stroke Care floor, featuring 25 rooms and a rehabilitation therapy facility to encourage quicker patient recovery.

Judging from Saturday night’s turnout, people throughout the area have come to recognize and appreciate the role that Memorial is playing in the community when it come to health care. It was an event that shined brightly and helped focus attention on the good work that this facility is doing for all of its patients.

James Roscetti and George Maziarz... honoree with former state senator. — James Roscetti and George Maziarz… honoree with former state senator.

James Roscetti and Michael Roscetti... father and son at Gala — James Roscetti and Michael Roscetti… father and son at Gala

Henry and Caroline Wojtaszek... attend Gala — Henry and Caroline Wojtaszek… attend Gala

Mayor Paul Dyster... enjoys gala dinner — Mayor Paul Dyster… enjoys gala dinner

Dick Soluri and Paul Grenga... enjoying Memorial Gala — Dick Soluri and Paul Grenga… enjoying Memorial Gala

Michael and Michele Gawel... at Memorial dinner — Michael and Michele Gawel… at Memorial dinner

James Roscetti and Dr. Komal Chandan... Memoria Gala honorees with their awards — James Roscetti and Dr. Komal Chandan… Memorial Gala honorees with their awards

SharefXin✉

Comments (0)

More From Niagara Falls Reporter

Featured

Craig Bucki Stands Out in Race for Supreme Court, Has All the Tools to Be Strong Judge

By tony Farina · September 16, 2026

By Tony Farina I’ve covered many court proceedings and trials in my more than 35 years as a newspaper and television reporter and I want to make the point at the beginning of this story that whether elected or appointed, some judges are fair and honest and many others fall short of the mark. In other words, the word jurist does not convey skill and knowledge of the law; it is just a role that some serve with distinction, and others do not. By definition, a jurist is a person who has expert or thorough knowledge of the law but

Featured

Is Niagara Falls Crisis Self-Inflicted? Lots of Questions, Few Answers

By tony Farina · September 15, 2026

By Tony Farina There are certainly many questions swirling around the mayor’s declaration of a state of emergency in Niagara Falls over trash, blight, and deteriorating streets that was declared back on July 20 and has been extended several times since because, according to Mayor Robert Restaino, the City Council refused to approve contractor agreements. But some observers point to depleted staff at City Hall, like in Public Works and Code Enforcement and other departments, as really self-inflicted wounds that are the underlying reasons work is not getting done in the city. Or is there even more to the story,

Featured

NIAGARA FALLS BUILT THE MODERN WORLD ON ITS POWER. IT CAN DO IT AGAIN.

By Niagara Reporter- · September 11, 2026

The Data Center That Answers Hochul’s Objections There was a time when Niagara Falls did not ask Albany whether it was permitted to prosper. The river was here. That was enough. The town had something Albany couldn’t give it. It used what was here. Water. Power. Work. Jobs. Industry. A future. In 1895, the Adams plant took the river and put it into wire. The current went to Buffalo. It changed the industrial world. Tesla supplied the designs. Westinghouse built the machines. Niagara supplied the falling water. Then industries came. Electrochemical. Electrometallurgical. They came because Niagara offered abundant, inexpensive electricity.

Featured

Niagara Falls Has Millions of Tourists But Needs to Find a Way to Capture That Wealth

By tony Farina · September 8, 2026

By Tony Farina The City of Niagara Falls, N.Y., boasts one of the world’s greatest natural wonders that people from around the world come to see, but despite incredible tourism numbers of more than nine million visitors a year, the city of now less than 50,000 people is still pretty darn poor. Niagara Falls does not have a tourism problem; it has a tourism-capture problem, and the distinction should be a starting point for a serious new discussion about the city’s future. And ladies and gentlemen, that discussion needs to start now. The question is no longer whether Niagara Falls

Memorial Gala a Ringing Success

Comments (0)

Leave a comment

More From Niagara Falls Reporter

Craig Bucki Stands Out in Race for Supreme Court, Has All the Tools to Be Strong Judge

Is Niagara Falls Crisis Self-Inflicted? Lots of Questions, Few Answers

NIAGARA FALLS BUILT THE MODERN WORLD ON ITS POWER. IT CAN DO IT AGAIN.

Niagara Falls Has Millions of Tourists But Needs to Find a Way to Capture That Wealth