Obituary: Max Seel

As received from the O’Neill-Dennis Funeral Home:

Max Seel, a Professor Emeritus of the Physics Department of Michigan Technological University, died in Milwaukee on September 14, 2022 surrounded by his loving family after a brief illness.

He was born on October 12, 1949 in Koesching, Germany, son of Andreas and Walburga Seel.

After receiving a Masters Degree in Physics from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, and a PhD from the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg in Germany, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow with IBM Research in San Jose, California, and then as Privatdozent at the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg.  Seel joined the Michigan Tech faculty as an Associate Professor of Physics in 1986.  He served as interim head of the Department of Computer Science in 1988 and was promoted to full Professor of Physics in 1989.  In January of 1990 he was named interim Dean, and from 1991 to 2008 he was the Dean of the College of Sciences and Arts.  Seel was appointed interim Provost in 2009 and Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs in 2010.  He returned to Physics in 2015 and retired in 2016.

Seel was a member of the American Physical Society, Sigma Pi Sigma, and Sigma Xi.  He is the author of ninety publications and has been an invited speaker at universities, conferences and industry laboratories in the US and Europe.  His research areas were computational solid-state Physics and Quantum Chemistry.

For thirty years, he went with his boat Bavaria to Isle Royale.  He played cello with the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, read many books, worked with digital photography, and from time to time did oil and acrylics paintings.  In his retirement, he also rediscovered building and flying remote controlled airplanes.

Preceding him in death are his parents and brother Gerhard Seel.  He is survived by his wife Mary Ann Seel, his daughter Natalie (Jeremy) Lankford of Houston, TX and Son Max (Elena) Seel of Guilford, CT, who are his children with his first wife Ingrid, grandchildren Kai, Max, and Astrid, stepson Cole Berryman of Appleton, WI, brother Andreas Seel and four nephews Sebastian, Florentin, Benedikt and Jonathan Seel in Germany, brother-in-law and sister-in-law Dave and Kathy Manderfield and nephews Adam, Jared, and David Manderfield and niece Megan Manderfield.

The O’Neill-Dennis Funeral Home is assisting the family.  A funeral Mass will be held at St. Albert the Great University Parish at 1:00 P.M. on Saturday, October 1, 2022 with Reverend Father Ben Hasse to officiate. Visitation will be held from 5 until 8 P.M. on Friday, September 30, 2022 at the O’Neill-Dennis Funeral Home in Hancock. His remains will find their final resting place in the Columbarium at the Church of the Resurrection in Hancock.

A reception time of food and fellowship will follow from 5 until 7 P.M. at the Memorial Union Ballroom on the MTU Campus.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Salvation Army or the Omega House.