Pharmacist Mario Calanna dies at Woree home aged 72

Well-respected giant of the Far North business community Mario Calanna has died after a long running cancer battle – his friendly smile will long be remembered by generations touched by the pharmacy owner’s old school charm and community advocacy.

Well-respected giant of the Far North business community Mario Calanna has died after a long running cancer battle.

His friendly smile will long be remembered by generations touched by the pharmacy owner’s old school charm and community advocacy.

Mr Calanna died peacefully at his family home in Woree on Saturday, aged 72.

Known to three generations of Far Northerners, Mr Calanna became a fixture of the Woree area having built a thriving business empire that included 11 pharmacies across Cairns, Townsville, Innisfail, Atherton and the Gold Coast.

Founder of the Calanna Pharmacy Group, Mario Calanna, in 2021 received a life membership award from the Pharmacy Guild of Australia after 50 years in the industry. Picture: Brendan Radke

The Calanna Pharmacy Group was taken over in May this year by TerryWhite Chemmart but not before the Cairns business stalwart was made a life member of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

Mr Calanna added the accolade to a long list of achievements including the establishment of the Trinity Jaycees chapter in 1978 and he was heavily involved in Rotary after he joined when he turned 40 in 1990.

The health professional sat on the board of Anglicare FNQ and the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service.

Pharmacist Mario Calanna with wife Linda and children Catherine and Matthew in 1992. Picture: Supplied

He also served with the FNQ Hospital Foundation and Knights of the Southern Cross, as well as founding the Calanna Junior Speaking Contest which each year gave a voice to hundreds of students from 35 schools between Mossman and Tully.

In 2017 Mario was the inaugural Legacy Winner of the Cairns Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards.

Son Matthew Calanna said his dad was proud of what he had achieved, and right up until the end, his father was tireless in his advocacy work.

“He would have liked to have done a lot more,” he said.

“He did whatever he could and even in the last days and weeks he was working on letters for people and working on other little projects he was close to.

“He was still very mentally across a lot of things and engaging in conversations and things he was passionate about.

“That never really stopped.”

Cairns pharmacist Mario Calanna died on Saturday November 26.

In 2018 Mr Calanna penned a memoir and health guide entitled Design a Good Life, the same year he was diagnosed with blood cancer.

“It’s about leadership, responsibility and little things that can help someone be a better person, things we seem to have forgotten in the last few decades,” he said in a Cairns Post interview at the time.

Tributes thanking Mr Calanna for his unwavering support have poured in from the Cairns business community.

Mario Calanna with his kids Catherine and Matthew at the launch of the $1.2m Woree pharmacy

Real estate agent Jeff Rufino celebrated Mr Calanna as a mentor and supporter of his business.

“In 2013 when I stared my business he gave me so much knowledge and he was always willing to take my calls and he personally sent me his book,” he said.

“He was such a mentor to me and a lot of people in Cairns and we’re really are going to miss him a lot.”

Matthew Calanna said he would remember his dad as having a unique ability to connect to people from all walks of life.

“He is the type of person that could relate anyone, it didn’t matter where they were from or who they were but he had the ability to relate to everyone,” he said.

Mr Calanna is survived by his wife Linda and children Catherine and Matthew.

Funeral arrangements are being made through Heritage Brady Funerals but no date has been announced by the family.

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Originally published as Pharmacist Mario Calanna dies at Woree home aged 72