DENVER—Dr. Roland Zarlengo, who served the poor for 42 years, has died at age 88.
Like the fictional Dr. Zhivago, Dr. Zarlengo also had passions other than his love of medicine: music, dancing and playing the accordion.
“He played the classics, including Bach and Mozart,” his daughter, Barbara Zarlengo of Boulder, told The Denver Post. He and his late wife, Cecelia, danced to Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey during the Swing Era at Elitch Gardens.
Zarlengo served unpaid as medical director as medical director for the Little Sisters of the Poor Mullen Home for the aged in northwest Denver.
He died Dec. 26. “He was very generous and all his brothers were generous,” said Irene Zarlengo, widow of his brother, Arthur.
Zarlengo was “an old-fashioned doctor,” said his niece, Dianne Zarlengo of Denver. “He made house calls, would get up at 2 in the morning to go see a sick patient and never turned anyone away because they couldn’t pay,” she said.
Zarlengo, a graduate of Regis High and Regis University who obtained his medical degree from Creighton Medical School, was in private practice at Highland Medical Center for 26 years before becoming regional medical director for Western Electric, traveling to seven area states. He also served as president of the Colorado Academy of Family Practice, president of the Rocky Mountain Academy of Occupational Medicine and president of the Bal F. Swan Foundation, which donated money for education and health care.
Roland Joseph Zarlengo was born March 23, 1919, in Denver. Zarlengo always wanted to become a doctor, although three brothers became lawyers. “He was fascinated by science,” Barbara Zarlengo said.
He is survived by his son and five daughters.
