Michael A. Passo

May 14, 1947 - July 17, 2023

Michael A. Passo, formerly of Edgewater, MD passed away peacefully at home in Milroy, PA on July 17, 2023, after a brief illness with cancer at the age of 76. He was born on May 14, 1947, in Honolulu, Hawaii, the second son of the late Willard C. Passo, USN, Ret. of Mead, Nebraska, and Catherine A. Passo of Philadelphia, PA. In 1955 upon the retirement of his father from the U. S. Navy the family settled in Edgewater, Maryland where he lived for most of his life. He attended Annapolis High School and upon his graduation, he followed in his father's footsteps and joined the U. S. Navy where he served honorably as a radarman aboard a naval destroyer during the Cold War period patrolling in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean and Black Seas. Upon his discharge from the Navy, he went to work at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center where he served as the resident manager of the Poplar Island research project providing support and logistics for the scientists conducting research until the project was shut down because of ongoing environmental damage due to wind and waves. He then went to work at NASA in Greenbelt, MD where he worked as a mission support technician until his retirement. His hobbies were love of music and designing and cutting stained glass and gemstones. When he was in high school, he played guitar for several years in a rock band; and almost everyone in the family had a piece of his stained-glass work or a piece of custom-made jewelry using his cut gemstones. Michael is survived by his son Douglas Passo and his wife Elizabeth, his granddaughter Jazmin; all of Camp Hill, PA, his brother, William J. Passo of Salisbury, MD, and his longtime friend, Kathy Branoff of Milroy, PA.