Joseph Edward Bartoszek

Joseph (Joe) Edward Bartoszek, formerly of Chicopee, passed away at Hospice of the Valley in Arizona on March 9, 2024, with his wife and sister-in-law at his side. He was born in 1952 to the late Walter and Madonna Bartoszek. Joe attended St. Patrick’s School, graduated from Chicopee Comprehensive, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology in 1974 from Westfield State.
In 1976 Joe earned a Master’s degree in fisheries biology at Northern Arizona University. There he met Lila where they cross-country skied and he taught her about doing donuts with a car. They married in Chicopee August 1977 and moved to Vermont soon thereafter. Joe worked various jobs including running a grinder in a machine tool shop, building pre-fab log homes, and being the vice president of R&D for a small aerosol contract packaging firm. He worked for the USDA blood testing cattle for brucellosis and pigs for African swine fever. He finally broke into the small world of environmental biology working for the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. In 1980 they purchased 13 acres in Tunbridge, VT where they designed and helped build a passive solar home with a view of the Green and White mountains.
Family crisis took Lila and Joe to Ohio where he worked for the Muskingum County Health Department. He finally got into the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (dream job) where Joe made his national singing debut with “High Hopes” (Frank Sinatra version) during an interview on NPR. While working full time at the OEPA, in 1998 he began to pursue his PhD in biomedical sciences at Wright State University completing it in 2009 (Yes, 11 years!). His group at OEPA also completed the clean-up of Fernald (uranium refinery) creating a preserve with the motto “From Weapons to Wetlands”. This led to a job with US Fish & Wildlife Service as a contaminants specialist at Hanford, the most contaminated nuclear site in the US. He retired in 2014.
Joe and Lila followed their dream to take a round-the-world trip, the journey taking just over 7 months. In 2014 they also fixed up an old Balboa RV and started traveling the west and midwest. In 2017 they moved to Arizona where Joe loved the heat. He continued to make people laugh, and enjoyed watercolor painting, rug making, building shelves, swimming, playing guitar, beating everyone at pop music trivia, golfing, and bowling with the Friday bowling group.
He was diagnosed with glioblastoma in June 2020 (median survival after diagnosis is 15-18 months). He was determined to be an outlier. A consummate researcher, Joe went well prepared for medical appointments, telling his neurosurgeon to write a paper about Joe’s long survival rate in 20 years when the surgeon retired. Joe was an early adopter of the Optune device. (Optune Gio™ leverages biophysical principles to disrupt tumor viability, using alternating electric fields delivered at a unique frequency that allows it to selectively disrupt cancer cell division.) Joe beat the glioblastoma but the adenocarcinoma diagnosed in June of 2023 was his cause of death. His 3 year 10 month survival was a journey of attitude, heart, and fight.
A few examples of Joe’s humor during his illness and treatment:
In the last emergency room visit with Lila at his side the Dr. was checking Joe’s cognitive function – Where are you? In the emergency room Who is the President? Biden What is your wife’s name? Joe responds, which one?
In his last month at the hospital Joe’s voice was very weak. His nurse leaned over very close to hear Joe’s response to his question of “are you feeling any anxiety?” Joe said clearly, “Well I am now with you in my face!”
It was the day of Joe’s move from the hospital to hospice and the same nurse was explaining that he planned to save back some of the current morphine dose in order to give a larger dose right before the ambulance ride to hospice. Joe says, “so now you’re going to give me less-phine?"
Joe is survived by his wife, Lila, brother John of Florida, in-laws Ri, Bob, Jorge and Julie of Grand Junction, CO, brother-in-law Jim of Michigan, nieces Debbie, Jennifer, Julie, Kristen and nephews Ned, and Erty, grand-nephews Elias, Kai, Gideon, and grand-niece Ellery.
Consistent with his lifelong interest in science, Joe willed his body to The University of Arizona Willed Body Program for education and research. Visiting hours will be held at the Tylunas Funeral Home at 159 Broadway Street in Chicopee, MA on Saturday, September 27, 2025, from 9:00 -11:00 AM with Rites of Committal to follow at St. Partrick Cemetery in Chicopee.
If you would like to make a charitable donation in memory of Joe, please support the Nature Conservancy https://www.nature.org/en-us/membership-and-giving/donate-to-our-mission/ or Environmental Defense Fund, click Donate, at bottom of page click on “Give in honor of someone” or go to: https://donate.edf.org/give/342007/?addl_info=classy_548586#!/donation/checkout