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Join MemoriesZak was a devoted son, brother, and friend who worked tirelessly as a doctor in emergency medicine, saving lives and helping everyone he could. His combination of intelligence, creativity, wit, and heart enabled him to deeply affect the lives of many across the globe - at the hospital, volunteering as a doctor abroad, or pursuing his passions - sports, music, and spending time with the people he l... more
Family and friends
Paul Falcone Catholic school - a lot of great times. Bradford Parkway soccer was our favorite game for sure - I can still remember the back yard for recess and playing Frogger between the swings.
Paul Falcone My birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Zak had the double middle finger goin' on in that one pic.
Paul Falcone My birthday party at my house - I was turning 9. We had a lot of toy guns around. My brother really liked them. Apparently so did Zak. The real question is... Cowboys jersey???
Paul Falcone Someone had wanted to commemorate this moment, because we were all graduating from high school and going off to different colleges, and the 4 of us had spent so much time together in the last 12 years
Paul Falcone We had such a great time at Cape Cod that summer, just reconnecting and joking around, now that we were all at separate colleges and not being able to see each other that often.
Akira Yoshimura May 1996 Colgate University graduation photographs
R Mok 1996 was epic. We graduated from Colgate, moved to Providence, and saw some great music. Phish may have been the genesis of shirtless Zak
Wayne Wong Zak was one of the greatest musicians I ever knew in real life. I used to joke with him that he was 2/3 of the way to being a real musician because he played a 4 string bass as opposed to a 6 string guitar. In these pictures, we are playing pretty bad music, but mostly that’s because of me. He cared more about the vibe of the jam than anything else. He used to call my improvisation experimental and edgy when in reality it was just in the wrong key. Best guy to jam with ever.
Vincent Nguyen Not sure exactly when this picture was taken, but this probably was in the first year of med school. I tried to find Zak by looking for someone with his shirt off, but no luck.
Aji Antony This was just a random night during med school, the balloon tells me we were celebrating a birthday. Some of my favorite memories of Zak during med school were during anatomy lab. Imagine being in a large basement room with about 150 students divided into groups to dissect 30 bodies over the course of 9 months. For some groups, this was a serious task taken on with precision and an eye for detail. Those guys would have lost in our group! It was comedy hour for us as we hacked away at our poor body. It was when I learned how funny Zak was, and our table was overrun by his giggles. Zak made that class so fun.
Vincent Nguyen Gregg Lanier (GGG) had a hair dying party at his apartment. GGG decided to dye his hair purple, and you and I decided to go platinum. For some reason, GGG took a shower afterwards and managed to dye his skin blue. I couldn't take the pain of the peroxide and ended up with a bright orange head of hair. You, somehow, looked the most normal of us when we went to lecture the next day. The lecturer later was surprised to find out that all three of us managed to become doctors. Note: These pictures were actually taken in Spain, years later, but Zak for some reason decided this was a good look for him.
Aji Antony Look at Zak getting his mack on! We were out one night and he hooked up with one of my best friends. He wooed her with his base guitar and fancy apartment overlooking Lake Michigan. She thought he was so sweet and fun, and was really impressed by him.
Wayne Wong Milwaukee. Drove up from chicago for a game featuring Michael Jordan in a Wizards uniform! Had way better seats than we should have because of a corporate connection. Zak’s love of sports was contagious and completely illogical. Fly Eagles fly?
Wayne Wong New Orleans. Mardi Gras. No comment.
Aji Antony Match day! This was the day we found out where we matched for residency. The school hosted a party at a local bar. We were all handed envelopes with our match and opened them together. Four years of hard work lead to this day, and we were so excited for the future careers we were about to start.
Wayne Wong At the train station in Almería, Spain. You and Vince had been traveling through Europe and met up with me in Spain. It was a crazy trip. Such a great time
Amrut Ambardekar Top of the World-- Northwestern Medical School pre-graduation party at the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the Hancock Building. Zak was a great friend and supported many of us as we ascended through medical school and beyond.
Vincent Nguyen Zak graduates from Northwestern Medical School. He cost me a lot of money that day.
Vincent Nguyen This is why we called Zak "Animal" or "Ahhh-knee-mahl". We tried to teach him how to use utensils, but fingers were his weapon of choice.
Paul Falcone Zak and I spent a lot of time in high school playing bass and drums together, mostly covering Rush tunes and occasionally Van Halen. This picture is special because during this visit, we were able to perform together on stage at the Cutting Room in NYC. We were backing up my wife Stephenie, who is a singer-songwriter.
Akira Yoshimura Rich's bachelor party in NYC! Got a stretched Hummer limo and parked in West Village? Got bunch hamburgers from Corner Bistro. Fun night :)
Akira Yoshimura Rich's wedding in Colorado.
Akira Yoshimura Eddie's wedding!
Paul Falcone On our way to, and at, my 1st Eagles game, and I think his too. Against the Redskins. 28-6 we win! I am a lifelong Eagles fan because of Zak. I liked the helmets (I was 6 yo) and he said, I love the Eagles! And that was that. Getting to see Donovan McNabb (Syracuse football we shared also) play in his prime was a highlight.
Wayne Wong Las Vegas. My bachelor party. Trust me, Zak made the most of the buffets!
Wayne Wong Burr Ridge IL. Zak was one of the groomsman at my wedding. It was great honor for me to have him there but I’m pretty sure he thought it was a pajama party.
Wayne Wong San Diego. Fashion shoot in my apartment to find a picture for online dating sites! I like the one where he’s trying to look tough, because we all know that he was a giggling nut
Wayne Wong San Diego. We went mountain biking. Through some improbable interaction with a tarantula wasp I landed hands first into some cacti. On the drive home I kept complaining of pain and a severe reaction to the toxins on the needles. After 30 minutes of this Zak says “oh, I have some Benadryl and Tylenol in my backpack. Do you want some?
Beatrice Gadal
Beatrice Gadal Zak and his infamous "bowling shirt" --- a true classic!!! Only he could pull that off :)
Vincent Nguyen Zak, Bea, & Matt visiting me in Hawaii. Zak unnecessarily taking off his shirt.
Vincent Nguyen Zak & I meeting up with Kylie on Kauai.
Wayne Wong More documentation of the 2010 chargers loss
Pat Hlavin Posting for Punam Chowdhury Medical mission to Honduras
Beatrice Gadal
Wayne Wong Hawaii. Somehow got all of our schedules aligned for a guy’s weekend. A guy’s weekend that is where everyone except me brought their girlfriends
Pat Hlavin VA ED crew, Punam Chowdhury,Thi Nguyen, Matt Cherian, Allison Morgan
Vincent Nguyen Chargers lose again. I'm 99% sure that's Zak's middle finger.
Vincent Nguyen Zak doing something inappropriate on a kayak.
Vincent Nguyen Hiking Kokohead and Zak unnecessarily taking off his shirt.
Vincent Nguyen Chargers lose again.
Wayne Wong San Diego. Guys get together. It was a fun day just walking on the beach with some dear friends. Zak is on the left in the silhouette photo. Later that night we went out. Vince was wearing a black shirt with jeans. Unfortunately I had to borrow some clothes from Vince and ended up with…black shirt and jeans. I had no choice. Now Zak come out of HIS OWN BEDROOM and is wearing…a black shirt and jeans!!! Refuses to change because he looks good. We looked like clowns.
Wayne Wong More documentation of the 2014 chargers loss
Vincent Nguyen Part of our annual ritual to watch the Chargers lose.
Vincent Nguyen Not sure what we were doing in Hawaii, but I'm sure it was something dumb. :b
Vincent Nguyen As always, Zak ordering massive amounts of food, and then asking the waitress to make changes to half the order.
R Mok The night before Akira and Tracy’s wedding
Akira Yoshimura Thanks for coming all the way to NYC to attend our wedding in Lower East Side. Zak and other guys went to Katz Deli after our reception for more food!
Pat Hlavin Wedding of Punam Chowdhury
Akira Yoshimura Golf day when you lost your tooth on a golf course filled with green grass, you managed to loose your tooth on a small patch of peddles!!
Akira Yoshimura US open tennis with Jay and Eddie
Akira Yoshimura Since Zak never had "authentic" Japanese lunch, we went to one in K-town in NYC. Then for dinner we all went to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Harlem. We probably ate an entire cow???
Akira Yoshimura With Jay and Eugene US open, second year in a row with a magical sunset!
Vincent Nguyen Lanikai Pillbox Hike. Zak unnecessarily taking off his shirt.
Vincent Nguyen Chargers lose again.
Vincent Nguyen Zak & I in Colombia for Carnivale. Crazy times in Medellin, Cartagena, & Baranquilla.
Akira Yoshimura While you stayed at our apt in Inwood for a night, you found out I never had Chicken waffles so we went to a local place and ate more than we could. You always offered to pay the meal, thanks Zak!
Vincent Nguyen These pictures are as blurry as my memory of that weekend in Vegas. Zak decided to drive to Vegas from San Diego after working a 12 hour shift. He slept for two days and woke up on the last night to rage like a rockstar all night.
Akira Yoshimura date unknown...prob 2018? in NYC with Eddie!
Pat Hlavin September 2021
Vincent Nguyen This time we specifically went to watch the Chargers lose, and they didn't disappoint. Go Vikings! We made Zak wear the helmet because, he should always wear a helmet.
Akira Yoshimura In San Diego visiting with Paul. Zak, you asked the waitress to bring extra ketchup (total of four cups) and you only used one! We had semi-healthy lunch and hang out at your apt in the patio talking about nothing but everything.