Catherine P. Fussell | Educator, scientist, 87

Catherine Pugh Fussell, 87, formerly of Elkins Park, an educator and scientist, died March 22 of cancer at Kendal at Longwood, a retirement community in Kennett Square.

Dr. Fussell taught biology at the McKeesport campus of Pennsylvania State University for nine years and for 11 years, until 1988, taught at Penn State's Ogontz campus. In the 1990s, she was a research scientist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

From 1972 to 1992, she spent summers at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.

Dr. Fussell graduated from Swarthmore High School and earned a bachelor's degree from Colby College in Maine. She was administrative assistant with the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia for eight years, and then earned a master's degree from Cornell University and a doctorate in biology from Columbia University. She was a research assistant at Fox Chase Cancer Center and at Fels Research Institute in Philadelphia before joining Penn State.

Dr. Fussell was active in efforts to preserve historic Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia. She was past president of the Northeastern Montgomery County chapter of the American Association of University Women. She enjoyed gardening and ocean voyages.

She is survived by a sister, Anna Lang, and seven nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Kendal at Longwood, Route 1, Kennett Square.