Josiah Ochieng posted a condolence

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Jose was my mentor during the period 1988-1991, before he moved to Fox Chase from Detroit. We remained close until his passing in 2021. Over the years after I left his lab in 1991, our friendship remained very strong and so I will cherish all the wonderful memories of my dear friend and his late wife Irma. I will not forget the last time the three of us had dinner together in Philadelphia in 1999. Rest in eternal peace my friend till we meet again.

Barbara Sheehan posted a symbolic gesture

Monday, October 18, 2021

I worked with Dr. Russo on grant applications at Fox Chase. He was always very kind and supportive of me as a person. I am so sorry to hear of his passing. He leaves a wonderful legacy, especially in breast cancer research. Rest in peace, Dr. Russo.

Frank Van Belleghem posted a condolence

Sunday, October 3, 2021

Dear Magda With this message, we want to express our condolences and wish you lots of strength in this difficult time. Frank, Els, Pieter en Joris

Ana Lilian Romero-Weaver posted a condolence

Friday, October 1, 2021

I met Dr. Jose at the Michigan Cancer Foundation in Detroit Michigan in 1990 when I came to work as a volunteer in his lab. In 1991, I came to work for him as a lab technician at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. It was one of the best times of my professional and personal life. He was not only a great scientist but a great human being. I admire the love he had for his family, for his job, for humanity, but especially his love for God. His example encouraged me to pursue a doctoral degree which I completed a few years later with his help. I am deeply sorry for his passing but proud for having the opportunity to meet a person who has left a big impact in my life and left a great legacy for humanity. Rest in peace dear Dr. Jose.

Ana Lilian Romero-Weaver posted a symbolic gesture

Friday, October 1, 2021

Ana Lilian Romero-Weaver lit a candle

Friday, October 1, 2021

Maria Barton uploaded photo(s)

Friday, October 1, 2021

FCCC and the BCRL were my home for 5 years during my PhD in the Russo Lab. I’ll never forget my first interview with Dr. Russo, my first conversation with Dr. Irma Russo, my first time meeting Patricia Russo and the first time with Magda Johanna Russo. I am forever grateful for the years in the BCRL and the people I met there who have not only empowered my professional career but also my personal life. Que en paz descanse, Dr. JR!

Jan Franssen posted a condolence

Friday, October 1, 2021

Liefste Magda, dikke knuffels vanuit Antwerpen voor jou en je familie. Uit je mails van de laatste jaren aan ons orkest in Mol bleek de liefde tussen jullie beiden. Ik bewonderde je courage om te gaan wonen in Amerika bij 'jouw' José. Liefde overwint alles, zeggen ze. Je leven is rijker geworden dankzij José. Je hart is ook nu nog rijker. Ik wens je veel steun bij familie en vrienden. Tot binnenkort. Jan.

Chantal Collen lit a candle

Friday, October 1, 2021

Maake, Wij denken veel aan u. Vooral vandaag. Koester alle mooie momenten die jullie hadden en sluit deze in je hart. Dan kunnen ze nooit verloren gaan en zal Jose altijd bij u zijn. Hele dikke knuffels Van Erik&Chantal

Eugenia Farre posted a condolence

Friday, October 1, 2021

Despite this enormous sadness, I am very happy to have shared time with José. "Is there something more important than this ... “?? We debated several times on the way to Fox Chase, laughing and inventing new ways to take advantage of it even more. I think that the time with José would always have been little ... it is not easy to find such greatness in the same man, with memorable values and immense wisdom. I am very proud to have been on the way of those who left "fingerprints" in the lives of many, for so long, with such a humble soul. Finally, I think that José did not leave anything for later, he lived intensely enjoying every moment ... and even here he teaches us ... Is there something more important than this? Have a good trip dear José! I am sure that you would like this prayer of San Agustin. Don´t cry if you love me. If you knew the gift of God and what Heaven is. If you could hear the angels singing and see me among them... If, only for an instant, you could contemplate, just like me, the Beauty before which all beauties turn pale. Trust me. When the day, which god has stated and knows, arrives and your soul, which has been preceded by mine, enters this Heaven, That day you will see me again, you will feel that I still love you, that I have always loved you and you will find my heart with all its love purified. You will see me in transfiguration, in an ecstasy of happiness. No longer waiting for death, but walking with you and holding your hand along new paths of light and life. So, wipe your tears away and don´t cry, if you love me... Saint Augustin

Magda Johanna posted a condolence

Thursday, September 30, 2021

My dearest loving husband JOSE, My dearest Jose was not only a great, bright and passionate breast cancer scientist, he was also an exceptional and especially very humble man. In the autumn of his life, believing that he would never experience True Love again after the passing of his first wife Irma, we both found our unexpected Great Love again. I met Jose for the first time in November 2014 at the European Breast Cancer Meeting in Belgium. Thereafter we met several times at Fox Chase Cancer Center to discuss my doctoral project, also in the field of Prevention of Breast Cancer. I listened carefully to the wise words and advise of ‘Professor Jose Russo’ and later we fell in love. By March 2017 we were engaged and in July 2018 we married. We spent more than three very happy years together. These last three years have been the happiest period of my life. He was truly my Great Love. He was my loving husband, always there for me, protecting and spoiling me. For me he was my beautiful and perfect husband. We had so much common that we could share, we worked together in research and enjoying the beauty around us. We were both interested and practicing art. He taught me about his paintings and I was as a violinist playing beautiful romantic music for him. Jose was my poetic, sentimental and loving Professor. Because of him I have grown in every aspect. He also was always understanding how I missed my children and family in Belgium and we made always again new plans to travel so we could be together as a big family. Since almost two years he was diagnosed with cancer, but he was never complaining and always patient. He continued working on all his projects even when he was suffering so much from the side effects of his treatment and even in the last months when he was constantly in pain. He was working almost until the last day. Jose was always positive and full of hope. He kept saying ‘I am ok, tomorrow I will be better’ or ‘do not worry I am fine or I feel peachy peachy’. Finishing my talk I especially want to say how grateful I am to God that I could share with Jose the last years of his life. Also many thanks to Jose from my two sons Peter and Erik and their families. For them he was like a father and always there to listen and give them wise advise when they needed. My dearest Jose, you were and will be forever my Great True Love, thank you so much for everything.

Coral Lamartiniere uploaded photo(s)

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Reflections of a Best Friend When I first heard Dr. Jose Russo at a scientific meeting, I was impressed at his attention to detail and the quality of his research. Furthermore, it was obvious that he was passionate about his science and wanted to pass on his knowledge to others. How close were we as a research team and friends? While I knew of the Russo’s’ 1980’s seminal work on mammary gland morphology in animal models and humans, it was during a meeting break some 10 years later that I approached Jose about our studies of estrogen action in the mammary gland. With no hesitation, he suggested that we should incorporate morphology and cell proliferation studies in our model system. You might be surprised, or not, that before I could say more, he volunteered his wife Irma to fly down to UAB and show us how to dissect out mammary glands, and to teach my staff how to evaluate the terminal ductal structures. “She is the best at this technique” he stated. Then came 2004 and the onset of the Breast Cancer and Environment Research Centers. When I read the NIEHS’s RFA calling for melding breast cancer research and environmental toxicology, I immediately called Jose and offered to collaborate with his team. To make a long story short, from 2004 Jose and I worked together to sustain research funding through 2016 via the BCERC and other related RO1 and U01 grants. Through grant writing, conference calls and national and international meetings, we quickly formed a bond not only based on science but became best friends that included my wife, D.D. who became part of “our cancer club”, i.e., Irma with ovarian cancer, D.D. with breast cancer, Jose and I with prostate cancer, and Jose with gastric cancer. While we all had our burdens, when we dinned together during our travels, we were like old friends without a trouble in the world, telling stories, laughing and having fun. Then, in 2011 as we attended a Gordon Conference hosted at Bryant University in Road Island, Irma took me aside and informed that she had terminal ovarian cancer. What made this moment especially moving is that Irma was more concerned for Jose than for herself. She stated that she knew how close Jose and I were and that he would need a close friend to check on him. She was able to keep her composure, but as soon as she left, I wept for both of them. After Irma passed away, and even after I retired in 2016, Jose and I continued to communicate during holidays and following storms. In fact, our last communications were two weeks ago after hurricane/tropical storm Ida came through. So, when Jose informed me that his cancer had metastasized and the treatments were no longer effective, I wept again. I wished him well, and kept him in my prayers. Oh, while I expounded about Irma’s concern for Jose, you need only look throughout Jose’s book, Memoirs of a Cancer Researcher, and see how he felt about Irma. It is evident how close the two of them were, and how much he worried and cared about her. They experienced true love. I will close with the following from Jose’s memoirs: “Life must be centered in Christ. The Gospel and the Church message is for us to be a co-creator with God of this world, and as a research scientist it is to create knowledge and open new understanding of what surrounds us.” I am certain that Jose has contributed significantly to this task. Respectively yours, Coral A. Lamartiniere Professor Emeritus, Retired University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical School (September 27, 2021)

MARIA DEL CARMEN RUSSO lit a candle

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Mi muy querido hermano, voy a decir palabras que tú ya sabías: fuiste más que mi hermano, mi amigo, confidente, compañero inseparable de nuestra niñez y juventud. Siempre muy estudioso, tenaz, luchaste y conseguiste tus sueños. Siempre quisiste ser científico, desde la niñez.....Y lo conseguiste, nada te detuvo. Te admiré y seguiré recordando siempre tu tenacidad y fortaleza. Ya no estás en este mundo, pero has dejado una huella tan grande que no olvidaré mientras dure mi existencia, porque fuiste un gan hombre, esposo, padre, hermano y buena persona. Te quiero y te querré siempre......Tu hermana Pitty

Ariel Ferreyra Russo y Familia posted a condolence

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Querido tío. Sentimos mucho tu pérdida, Siempre has estado presente en nuestros corazones y pensamientos. Y aunque ya no estés entre nosotros. Seguirás estando presente en nuestros corazón. Tu sobrino que te quiere. Ariel, Paola, Julieta y Carolina

PEDRO GUTIERREZ,PhD, and ARACELI F. RUSSO, MA, Doc.Res. lit a candle

Thursday, September 30, 2021

The passing away of our immensely loved Jose Russo, our uncle, has taken a big part of our lives. So many happy moments, so many Christmas and unforgettable Summers, sharing jokes, laughs and complicities with you and Irma, both in Philadelphia and Spain!! How many travels looking how much you enjoyed traveling in family, ….. Venice, Philadelphia, Bolonia, Salamanca, Brussels, Boston, Pavia, Siena, Gant, Madrid, Firenze, .… We were together in these blissful moments .…., and in the sad ones, as must be the family. And also in these unavoidable troubled passages of the life you were able to see the Beauty of the existence and the power of the family and love. We were together during Irma’s illness, your health mishaps, helping each other, and seeing the gratitude coming from your eyes. Even these were also beautiful moments, because you knew that the important thing in Life is love, love to the Humanity, and love to your family. To Pedro, your step-nephew, and I, your niece Araceli, your legacy is an example: an immense fight to finish with a terrible disease, to improve the condition of Humanity; and also and immense fight to show the importance of looking each other with the eyes of Love. With wholehearted Love, Pedro and Araceli, Requiescat In Pace.

Yanrong Su lit a candle

Thursday, September 30, 2021

I have been working closely with Dr. Russo for the past ten years. I can’t express how much he has taught me in science and in daily life. He is a great scientist and a pioneer who has a mission in helping people to conquer breast cancer by leading researches that may be not understood by others at the time. He never stops working even being very sick. He is a fighter who inspires me when I am frustrated. He is a mentor who trusts me and encourages me on whatever I do in research. He is a gentleman with great sense of humor that always cheers me up when I am sad. He is like a father who always supports me when I have trouble in my life. He will be missed forever. RIP. Sincerely, Yanrong Su

J. Meesen lit a candle

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Beste en lieve Magda Rosette en ik hadden nog gehoopt jullie samen te zien in Hasselt. Het lot heeft er anders over beslist. Wij delen in het zware verlies dat jou en de ganse familie treft en wensen je persoonlijk heel veel sterkte in deze moeilijke periode. Jean-Louis Meesen Dirikenlaan 1 3700 Tongeren

Francisco J. Martínez posted a condolence

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Francisco J. Martínez After the departure of José, this world will be missing an excellent scientist, a brave man and an honest friend. Words would not make justice to his attributes as a researcher, as the fine person and the generous friend he was. Needless to mention that he was a great man, also a giant for his time; he did excel and stand out beyond others. Although he was very humble and modest, his achievements were many, a rather prolific writer and a straightforward lecturer. We will never forget you, dear friend José and you will remain as a source of inspiration for our lives as well as for generations to come. Your friend, FRANCISCO (Francisco J. Martínez M.D.- Ph. D.)

Gabriela Balogh-Mailo lit a candle

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Dear Patty, Ron and Magda: I can't express how much pain the loss is causing in us. Dr. Russo was my mentor my guide my help not only in the professional but in the personal. We are really thankful to God that allow us to meet him in August 2000. We will miss him so much and never forget him. I want to offer my condolence and my hand if I can be helpful in any way. I love you and God Bless you. Gabriela. Daniel. Esteban. Alexander and Alan.

Lieve Geboors posted a condolence

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Beste Magda , Het overlijdensbericht van je geliefde Jose maakt ons stil ... Dit verlies van een man waarmee je zo gelukkig was ,laat diepe littekens achter . Moge de mooie en warme herinneringen je helpen om dit ingrijpend verlies te kunnen dragen . In gedachten bij jou wensen we je de nodig sterkte en draagkracht toe . Edie en Lieve Seijnhaeve -Geboors .

Paulo Castillo posted a condolence

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Querido Tio nos a causado un gran dolor tu partida, nos consuela saber que estas descansando. Rogamos por que Dios y la Virgen abracen tu alma y te tengan en su santa gloria. Querida Paty, Rom y Johana nuestras mas sentidas condolencia, se va a extrañar mucho su energia interminable y su entrega a cada uno de sus desafios. Este es un hasta pronto cuando Dios nos llame y volvamos a cruzar nuestras almas. Paty Rom y Johana desde Argentina un gran abrazo de Paulo, Patricia, Aldana, Adrian Marcos y Guadalupe

Karen Weekes posted a condolence

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

For a number of years, Jose was an active member of the Ruth and Robert Abel book discussion group at the Abington Library. There his character was clear in his desire to find the positive in the texts we read, to hold characters to a high standard not only of development but also of intrinsic motivation. The group is not the same without this enthusiastic, impassioned engagement. A light has been extinguished. My thoughts are with you all. --Karen Weekes

Johana Vanegas uploaded photo(s)

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Dr. Russo was a committed and passionate breast cancer scientist. He opened his lab to train hundreds of students, scientists, and cancer advocates from around the globe. I was one of them and worked for him and Dr. Irma Russo for eight years. We worked hard and also shared beautiful moments. I am honored to have had the chance to work with such an exceptional man. I am sad to know he is not with us anymore, but his legacy of character, determination, and faith will live in our hearts forever. Our family will keep his family in our thoughts and prayers.

Meesen J. lit a candle

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Meesen J. Posted Sep 29, 2021 at 5:27 AM

Dear Magda. An unpleasant surprise for me and everybody who knows you. I share the feelings of surprise and sorrow with you. You have always been a good wife to him and you could share so many memories and warm moments. Be brave as you have always been in difficult times. My condolences.

herman depypere posted a condolence

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Jose, was indeed a very stimulating, bright scientist and yet his was so humble. We will try to finish his life time work; that is to prevent cancer of the breast. Strength to his wife and family. Professor Depypere

The family of Jose Russo uploaded a photo

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

A Memorial Tree was planted for Jose Russo

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

We are deeply sorry for your loss ~ the staff at Helweg & Rowland Funeral Home

Posts to the tribute of Jose Russo