Obituaries

TRUMANSBURG - Dr. Alvin F. Sellers, age 90 of Trumansburg, a retired comparative gastroenterologist at Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine, died Saturday, January 19, 2008, at Cayuga Medical Center. Dr. Sellers was born in Somerset, PA, son of Addison B. and Marion F. Sellers. He recently celebrated 65 wonderful years of marriage with Dorothy M. Sellers.

Upon completing his Veterinary MD at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, he received a Masters of Science degree in Pathology from Ohio State University and a PhD with a double major in Physiology and Biochemistry from the University of Minnesota. He was the first and the youngest in his field to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1956. Dr. Sellers served with the 1st Medical Mobile Laboratory in World War II in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany from 1943 through the end of the war.

Survivors include his wife, Dorothy M. Sellers; three children, Alvin F. Sellers Jr., Mary Ann (George B. Seeley) Sellers and Christine (Karen Grimm) Sellers; two grandchildren, Kate Sellers Seeley and Laura Jane Seeley; and one great grandson, Jack Riley Wheeler Seeley. Close friends and caregivers include, Robert and Jean Johnson, Ed and Marlene Wolf, Terry and Nancy Cool, the Quirk family, Heather Ness, Missy Cole, and Kevin Houle; as well as a host of other loving and caring friends.

A Memorial open house will be held in the spring to celebrate the life of Al Sellers. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Nature Conservancy of New York, 322 8th Avenue, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10001, or the Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts Inc., c/o Postmaster, Trumansburg, NY 14886.
The Sellers family wishes to extend a special thank you to Dr. Lucia Jander for her medical care and support to Al and his family, and to the Trumansburg Emergency Response team of the Trumansburg Fire Dept. for their prompt service and professionalism.