He was an USAF veteran and had served as a flight surgeon for four years at various bases, finally settling in at SAC Base in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The son of Italian immigrants Vincent and Frances Salimbene, he lived in the Throgs Neck area of the Bronx and attended Fordham Prep and Fordham University. He attended the University of Rome Medical School and later began a residency at Flushing Hospital in Queens before moving to Scarsdale where he built a family practice.