04517

November 23, 2004

Cancer surgeon and researcher David Seel served 37 years

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE — A memorial service has been set for Nov. 27 in Montreat (NC) Presbyterian Church celebrating the life of a missionary surgeon who spent his entire career in South Korea.      David John Seel, 79, a noted cancer surgeon and researcher, died Nov. 20 in a hospital in Birmingham, AL. He suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease.

      “David, with his wife, Mary, went to Korea right after the devastating Korean War as a medical missionary. He was the director of the Presbyterian Medical Center — at Jesus Hospital — in southwest Korea, in Chonju,” said Insik Kim, the PC(USA)’s area coordinator for East Asia and the Pacific.

      “Under his leadership, the Presbyterian Medical Center was expanded and … he introduced the care and treatment of cancer patients (to the hospital’s protocol) for the first time in the region.” Kim said. “His medical ministry hasn’t stopped.”

      Kim said that Seel prodded both the hospital and Korea’s Presbyterians to begin sending medical missionaries to other countries, gradually commissioning nurses and doctors to serve in eight other parts of the world.

      Seel was born to Presbyterian missionary parents, Miriam Rood and Edward Seel, who served in Chile and Colombia. He was born April 4, 1925, in Bradenton, FL, and attended Maryville (TN) College. He graduated from Tulane University’s School of Medicine in 1948.

      Seel completed his surgical training at Tulane, served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy from 1946 to 1950 and did additional oncology study at the Sloane-Kettering Medical Center in New York City, and M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston, TX.

      In Korea, Seel served as a cancer surgeon at Jesus Hospital for 37 years, beginning in 1953 when he and his wife, Mary, were commissioned as PC(USA) missionaries. He directed the hospital from 1969 to 1988, training countless physicians who now serve around the world. During his tenure, a new 600-bed hospital was built.

      “He focused totally on the patient, listened to their every word,” said the Rev. Megan Ritchie, who as a novice missionary in the early 1970s observed Seel working with some of Korea’s poorest people. “He was compassionate. Gentle. I felt like I watching the hands of Christ in action.”

      Upon his return to the United States, Seel established the cancer registry at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Asheville, NC, retiring in 1997.

      He served as an elder at the Montreat Presbyterian Church, a board member of King College, the Medical Benevolence Foundation and the Presbyterian Children’s Home in Asheville. Seel also established the Bruised Reed Foundation to serve the needs of cancer patients in Korea.

      Called a “renaissance man” by his friends, Seel was a noted author, painter and violinist. His family intends to publish his final book, Scalpel of Truth —   a collection of Seel’s reflections as a surgeon — posthumously.

      Seel received numerous awards for his work, including Presbyterians for Renewal’s Bell-McKay Award, the Korean Red Cross’ Humanitarian Award and the “Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award” from Tulane University. In the fall of that year, Montreat College awarded Seel an honorary doctorate.

      “He was a surgeon, an extremely good doctor … and he also did a lot of cancer research. That research may be one of his greatest legacies. He wrote dozens of articles for medical and scientific journals,” said Virginia Sommerville of Montreat, who, along with her husband, John, entered missionary service in Korea at the same time as the Seels.

      “He had a wonderful sense of humor. He enjoyed a good joke. And he also enjoyed relaxing,” she said, recalling all-night games of the card game, Rook.  

      Seel is survived by his wife, Mary; his brother, Bob Seel of Tucson, AZ; and his sister, Betty Peterson of Hampton, VA; one son, David John Seel Jr. of Dallas, TX, and his wife, Kathryn; two daughters, Jennifer Seel Cromartie of Arlington, VA, and her husband, Mike, and Christine Seel Ritchie of Birmingham, AL, and her husband, Tim; and eight grandchildren.

      Memorials may be sent to the Bruised Reed Foundation, 135 Kanawha Drive, Montreat, NC 28757.