Jack Alex Seldner, who was adopted along with his half-sister from a German orphanage and went on to become a Sonoma County hospital pharmacist, has died. He was 61.
Seldner was 9 years old when an American G.I. and his German bride brought him and Barbara Seldner home to Southern California.
Seldner didn?t speak a word of English but learned quickly by watching TV shows of the time such as ?Leave it to Beaver,? which fueled an encyclopedic knowledge of American trivia, said his wife since 1990, Linda Seldner.
He played football in high school and joined the Army Special Forces after graduating, becoming a medic and weapons expert, his wife said.
He volunteered for Vietnam but never got an overseas assignment. After turning down an invitation to Officer Candidate School, he left the service and went to college, working nights as a security guard to put himself through U.C.L.A. and later USC, where he earned a doctor of pharmacy degree, his wife said.
?Jack was an interesting man,? Linda Seldner said. ?No one helped him. He had to find his own way.?
Seldner died Jan. 13 at his Santa Rosa home after a long bout with breast cancer.
He was born in Germany in 1947, the product of a German mother and another American soldier, his wife said. Along with his half-sister, who was four years younger, he lived in the Hollywood Riviera area of Los Angeles, Danbury, Conn., and Woodland Hills.
After college, Seldner moved with his first wife to Sonoma County in 1976, where he went to work as director of pharmacy at Healdsburg Hospital. He worked there for 25 years.
Later he would work at nearly all the hospitals in the county, his wife said.
Seldner had no children of his own but he seemed to have an innate grasp of parenthood that he shared with his friends, said Linda Seldner, who had four grown sons from a previous marriage.
He was a 7th-grade math tutor at Roseland Charter School and an avid golfer. He also was a dog lover. His rescue-dog Morgan was at his side with family members when he died, his wife said.
?He never really had a family,? his wife said. ?But he kind of taught a lot of us how to be parents. He was good with kids and he was great storyteller.?
Seldner was diagnosed with male breast cancer about five years ago and stopped working a year and a half ago.
In addition to his wife, Seldner is survived by four step-sons and his step-mother. His half-sister died of ovarian cancer in about 2003.
Funeral services are 2 p.m. Saturday at Daniels Chapel of the Roses in Santa Rosa.
?Paul Payne
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