WORCESTER - Leone C. Destefano, 56, of Worcester died Sunday, December 18th in the Lutheran Home in Worcester. He leaves two sons, Joshua and Nathaniel Destefano of Louisville, KY; his mother and step-father, Mary C. (Coyne) and Vincent R. DeBenedictis of Worcester; two brothers, Vincent M. DeBenedictis and his wife Julie of Agoura Hills, CA and Mark F. DeBenedictis of Worcester; and a nephew, Blake DeBenedictis of Agoura Hills, CA.
Mr. Destefano was born in Boston the son of Leo P. Destefano. Mr. Destefano earned the degree of Osteopathic Medicine, OMD, in 1978. In the same year, Mr. Destefano earned a masters degree in Clinical Acupuncture from the New England School of Acupuncture. In 1982, he earned a masters degree of Science in Internal Medicine, Naturopathy, and Diagnostics Therapeutic from International University. He was a professor and visiting scholar from Foshan University, Foshan City Guangdong Province, Peoples Republic of China. Mr. Destefano also had a degree in Chinese Herbal Medicine from Shantou University and was certified in General Medicine as well as Board Certified in Family Practice. Lee was a member of the Theravadin Buddhist Monk Order and was ordained in July 22, 1999 in Kathmandu, Nepal and was known as Bhikkhu Dhammapiyo.
He was the founder and practitioner of the Tainan Community Free Health Clinic in Tainan County and City, Taiwan Republic of China from 1990-1999. Lee was the CEO of the Buddhadharma International Trust – International Non Profit Organization for education, medical relief work and propagation of the Buddhadharma. He was the clinical staff practitioner at Shri Shakya Ya Singha Vihara Clinic in Lalitpur, Nepal. Lee was invited to speak by his Holiness the Dalai Lama on November 13-15, 2000 at the International Conference on “Buddhistic Philosophy and Contemporary Issues” in New Delhi, India where he presented a paper titled “Ignorance and Ecology for a Most Urgent Call for an Engaged Buddhadhamma Perspective”.
The funeral will be on Friday, January 6th with a service at 2:00 PM in O’CONNOR BROTHERS FUNERAL HOME, 592 Park Avenue. A visitation will be held from 1:30 until the time of the service.