Dr. Albert B. Accettola ’41, a Wagner Lifetime Trustee, died on July 18, 2017. He was 99 years old.
Dr. Accettola was an orthopedic surgeon who served as Wagner College’s athletic teams’ surgeon from 1949 until 1987. He was in private practice in Staten Island for many years. He also taught orthopedics as an associate clinical professor at New York University and was attending physician at the Department of Surgery at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, among many other positions and accomplishments in the medical field.
Dr. Accettola graduated from Wagner in 1941 with a B.S. in chemistry. He was a fencer as a Wagner undergraduate. He went on to earn an M.D. from the Boston University School of Medicine. Elected to the Wagner College Board of Trustees in 1981, Dr. Accettola became a Lifetime Trustee in 1993. 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.
In 1987, Dr. Accettola retired to his 90-acre farm in Flemington, New Jersey, where he remained busy and active with farming, antique restoration, and enjoying time with children and grandchildren. He remained a voracious reader until his 99th and final year; even when his eyes had failed him, he still consumed several audio books each week. In addition to his achievements and distinguished service to many, he was known as a man of civility and compassion.
