October 22, 2007

Each day the newsroom selects one obituary and seeks to learn more about the life of a person who has lived and worked in Maine. We look for a person who has made a mark on the community or the person's family and friends in lasting ways. SACO

— Joseph Amalfitano took his love of speed all the way to his motorized wheelchair.

Mr. Amalfitano loved cruising the Maine Turnpike in his sports car before he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in early 2006.

The disease took away his ability to drive months before it killed him. Confined to a motorized wheelchair as his muscles gave way, Mr. Amalfitano refused to slow down.

"He had that thing set as fast as it could possibly go," said wife, Jennifer Amalfitano.

Mr. Amalfitano, who will be remembered as a thrill-seeker who faced a fatal disease with laughter instead of despair, died Sunday at his home. He was 39.

Mr. Amalfitano was born on May 22, 1968, in Boston.

As a child, he developed a love of photography that continued into adulthood, his wife said.

He often spent summers with his grandmother at Ferry Beach. He loved the pace of life and the "lack of chaos" there compared with his South Boston childhood home, his wife said.

Mr. Amalfitano graduated from Copley Square High School in 1986 and later Bunker Hill Community College.

He started his own business as an audio-visual technician, running presentations for meetings and speeches at Boston-area hotels.

Mr. Amalfitano frequently did business at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston. He met his wife there in 1995, while he manned a conference for the Federal Reserve Board, where she worked.

"Those three days made a huge difference in my life," Jennifer Amalfitano said.

The two were opposites but made a connection, she said. Mr. Amalfitano had three motorcycles and drove sports cars at breakneck speeds.

"I'm a lawyer and a banker, and I don't take those kinds of risks," Jennifer Amalfitano said with a laugh.

The couple dated long-distance -- he lived in Boston, she lived in Washington, D.C. -- before Jennifer Amalfitano moved to Massachusetts in 1997 and the two got married.

The Amalfitanos moved to Saco in 2000. Doctors diagnosed Mr. Amalfitano with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, in January 2006.

Within weeks, he joined an ALS support group, where he would later provide helpful advice to recently diagnosed patients, his wife said.

Mr. Amalfitano spent his last 22 months trying to stay positive as he lost control of his arms and legs. He succeeded, his wife said.

"He would just come out with pithy little things that would make people smile," she said.