Edgar Wilson Seymour

Edgar W. Seymour passed from this life on January 27, 2021 at the age of 90. Ed was born in Rantoul, Kansas, the son of James and Ruth (Daugharthy) Seymour. He graduated from Ottawa High School, and from Ottawa University in Kansas in 1952 with a B.S. in Physics.  Immediately following graduation, he went to work for the National Bureau of Standards at the Harry Diamond Ordnance Laboratory in Washington, DC.  Later that year he married his wife, Martha Ann Staeber of Lorraine, KS.

In 1953 Ed left the government and began work with General Electric’s Light Military Equipment facility in Utica, NY, transferring in 1957 to their Advanced Engineering facility at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

Five years later, GE closed the facility in Ithaca.  At that time, he and three other engineers launched Ithaco, Inc., a company known for producing high-quality Attitude (positioning) Control Systems for satellites, and precision instrumentation such as lock-in amplifiers. Ed retired in 1996 when Ithaco was sold, and continued to consult for the business for several years thereafter.

Ed was a member of Tabernacle Baptist Church of Ithaca, NY and served as a trustee there. For over thirty years he enjoyed being part of the Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga (TST) Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), and for several years was President of the TST School Board Association.

Ed was predeceased by his parents and older sister Nadine, brother Harold, and sister Dortha Mae.  He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Ann; his brother, James (Marva) Seymour; his children Steve (Karen Kozlow) Seymour, Karen (Mark) Wood, David (Pamela) Seymour, Elizabeth (Jerry) Patterson, and Glen Seymour; his five grandchildren, Isaiah Patterson, Wilson Seymour, Eleanor Seymour, Xavier Patterson, and Peter Wood; and his many nieces and nephews. A funeral service is planned for March 7 at 1:00 PM at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Ithaca, NY, with private burial at a later time.

We will miss him greatly but share his expectation that he is now at rest, “absent from the body, present with the Lord.”