Dr. Joseph Amato was born in Brooklyn, NY, on August 16th, 1952, and died October 20th, 2025, in Danbury, CT, at the age of seventy-three. He was a former Roman Catholic priest of The Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at The University of Connecticut, a psychologist within the Department of Psychiatry at Stamford Hospital, a psychologist within The Veterans Healthcare Administration, and, most recently, a psychologist in practice with The Center of Revitalizing Psychiatry in Sarasota, Florida, using telehealth technology.
He died peacefully in hospice care in Danbury, Connecticut, in the company of his beloved longtime companion, Chuck Alejandro, and their two golden doodles, Max and Due.
He attended Cathedral College, Douglaston, NY; The Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, LI, NY; The Theological College of Catholic University, Washington D.C.; New York University, NY, where he was granted an MA and Ph.D.; he was a candidate at The New York University Post-Doctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy.
He completed his internship and residency at Mercy Hospital in San Diego, California, and a Clinical Fellowship in Child Psychology at The Newington Children’s Hospital in Connecticut (now the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center).
Finishing his academic and clinical training, he accepted a position at Stamford Hospital in the emerging field of Psycho-oncology in 1992. He continued in that work for 5 years, when he was needed within the Department of Psychiatry, and was assigned to the Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic. During his time at Stamford Hospital, he was also teaching at the University of Connecticut in the Stamford Campus.
In 2007, he left Stamford Hospital to take a position in the critical area of Suicide Prevention, as some of his UCONN students were returned from Operation Freedom in Iraq, Afghanistan and various other wars. He served as the Suicide Prevention Coordinator for the VA Health Care Systems in the Greater New York Metropolitan area from 2007 until March 2015. He played a nationally recognized clinical leadership role in this groundbreaking work. For his work, he was given the prestigious Federal Executive Board (FEB) “Call to Service Award" in 2010.
He has taught Clinical Assessment in the Department of Applied Psychology at NYU for a number of years and has been a clinical supervisor for various doctoral programs in psychology in the NY area. As part of his duties at Stamford Hospital and then at VA, he was appointed Assistant Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology (in psychiatry) for Columbia University Medical School and New York Medical College.
He was the lead author of two published non-grant funded papers. The first, in 1998, in the area of Psychological Support for Autologous Bone Marrow Transplant Patients; the other, published in 2017, in the area of Spirituality as a possible protective factor for those with suicide risk.
In 1980, he established a community theater group in Riverside, Connecticut. It became known as the “St. Catherine’s Players.” He produced and directed the first of 7 annual full-length musical productions. In 1987, his work in theater was featured in the Connecticut Section of The Sunday New York Times, titled “Priest Uses Theater to Bind Community.” Many of his actors went on to careers in TV and Broadway. The St. Catherine’s Players continue to perform an annual full-length musical and is now in its 45th year.
He is pre-deceased by his parents, Salvatore and Mary Amato. He leaves behind Chuck Alejandro, his companion of 29 years, a brother, Frank Amato and his wife Martha Amato, a sister Tina Marie Amato Broccoli and her husband Ralph Broccoli, and 5 nieces: Jennifer Amato, Kristina Amato, Danielle Stango, Maria Balistreri and Lisa Dedes as well as his grandniece and grandnephews: Joey Stango, Noah Stango, Liliana Dedes, and Antonino Balistreri.
In his honor, donations may be made to NYU scholarships for indigent students or for relief service organizations for Gaza and Ukraine.
