Anthony S Salerno

ANTHONY Salerno, whose company, Health Care Associates, owns the Northeast Center for Special Care in the town of Ulster, has died. Salerno's death was announced on Wednesday by state Sen. John Bonacic. Salerno, 61, died on Sunday November 16 2008. He grew up in the Astoria section of Queens and had been living in the Bayside section of the borough at the time of his death. The Northeast Center, in a building formerly occupied by IBM, treats patients with traumatic brain injuries and related medical conditions. It opened in 1999. Ann Belcher, the Northeast Center's chief executive officer, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. The Northeast Center for Special Care, on Grant Avenue in Lake Katrine section of Ulster, has 280 beds and employs more than 400 people. Though often lauded by patients' families and local officials, the center has been the subject of some concern by state and federal officials. In March 2004, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services warned the Northeast Center about a possible loss of government aid after inspectors found violations at the facility. But an 11th-hour state inspection gave the center a clean bill of health, and the state-administered payments were allowed to continue. Last year, the center asked to be designated as a facility allowed to treat brain-injured U.S. troops returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The center received permission to treat such patients but did not get the formal designation it sought from the U.S. Department of Defense. Mr. Salerno graduated from Fairfield University in 1973. He is survived by his wife Nancy, his daughters Emma and Serafina, son Grant, Richard Benjamin and granddaughter Lily, his sister Elisabeth Cardile, his brother-in-law Carmelo Cardile, his niece Lynn Cardile-Caniglia and her husband Frank Caniglia. He lived in Bayside Queens for many years before moving to Newburgh, NY in 1995.