Wagner College mourns the passing of Dr. Albert B. Accettola, class of 1941. Born on February 4, 1918, he died on July 18, 2017.
Dr. Accettola was elected to the Wagner College Board of Trustees in 1981 and became a Lifetime Trustee in 1993.
He was a retired orthopedic surgeon. He held a private practice in Staten Island (along with his son, Albert Jr.), Accettola-Suarez-Accettola. Previously, he held positions at Staten Island University Hospital, Bellevue Hospital, Willowbrook State School, Marquette University, and Hunterdon County Medical Center. He also taught orthopedics as an associate clinical professor at New York University, was attending physician at the Department of Surgery at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, and was surgeon of collegiate athletics at Wagner from 1949 to 1987.
Dr. Accettola graduated from Wagner in 1941 with a BS in chemistry. He went on to earn an MD from the Boston University School of Medicine. The Wagner Alumni Association named him the John “Bunny” Barbes ’39 and Lila T. Barbes ’40 Wagner Alumni Laureate in 2007. He was inducted into Wagner’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994. He was chairman of the Seahawk Fund Drive and a member of the Heritage Society. He also established the Rose Accettola Scholars in Nursing award at Wagner in honor of his late wife.
Albert resided in New Jersey. He has three children: Albert, Paul and Judith Ann.
A memorial mass will be held at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, in Three Bridges, New Jersey, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 29. There will be a repast at the farm after the service. The funeral direction is through Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home.