- Date Of Birth: December 5, 1925
- Date Of Death: May 4, 2014
- State: Maine
Alan W. Zeller, M.D. passed away at his home on Pemaquid Trail New Harbor Maine on May 4th. He was 88. Dr. Zeller was born in Brooklyn N.Y. December 5, 1925, son of Frank B. and Ruth A. Zeller. His early childhood was spent on Long Island, NY. He graduated from the Choate School in 1943, and attended Dartmouth College briefly before joining the US Merchant Marines as an apprentice seaman during WW2. During the War, he sailed in North Atlantic convoys and participated in the Normandy Invasion. He graduated from the US Merchant Marine Academy in 1945 and continued active sea duty until July 1946, rising in rank to Second Officer and LTJG U.S.N.R. He then returned to Dartmouth College, Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, graduating in 1948. He resumed His Maritime career, sailing around the World and then working for a Steamship Company on Wall Street for a year. His interest in medicine aroused, he attended Columbia University for pre-med courses and graduated from McGill University School of Medicine in 1955. After an internship at Maine Medical Center in Portland Maine, he returned to Dartmouth for a five year general surgical residency. From 1961 to 1969 he practiced surgery in Damariscotta, Maine, settling in Newcastle with his wife Barbara and their 5 children. In 1969, an offer from CARE/Medico to teach Surgery in Afghanistan was accepted, and the Zeller family moved to Kabul, where they resided for 4 1/2 years. Returning to Maine in 1973, Dr. Zeller took a position as Director of Emergency Services at Thayer Hospital in Waterville, Maine. The following year, Kaiser Aluminum requested his services in Ghana, West Africa, to manage their medical department in Tema, Ghana. He served there for 5 years. It was during this time his wife Barbara died, in 1977. In 1979 he returned to Maine and took the position of Medical Director of Bath Iron Works, Bath Maine, for the next 6 years. His July 1979 marriage to Bette Teschner of Pemaquid, Maine, was celebrated on Louds Island, in Muscongus Bay. In 1986 they accepted an offer from the Peace Corps to serve as medical officer in Africa. For 3 years they resided in Sierra Leone and then took many short term assignments throughout Africa and finally in the Baltics. Dr. Zeller retired in 1993, spending many years with his wife sailing the East Coast from their base in Pemaquid. Bette Teschner passed away in 2011. He is survived by his sister Ruth Zeller of Cutchogue, NY; sons, Frank Zeller of Nobleboro, Maine, Alan Zeller, II of Newcastle, Maine, Robert Zeller of Boston, Massachusetts, and George Zeller of Warrensville, North Carolina; daughter, Sarah Zeller of Riyad, Saudi Arabia; stepsons, Douglass Teschner of Kiev, Ukraine, David Teschner of Petersburg, Virginia, and James Teschner of Concremiers, France.
