In memoriam: Robert G. Seddig

1941–2023

By Molly Pifko '22

College of the Atlantic and the MDI community mourn the loss of our beloved adjunct professor Bob Seddig. Bob taught constitutional law and Supreme Court history for 11 years at COA, following 45 years as a political science professor at Allegheny College. There, he was awarded the Julian Ross Award for excellence in teaching, had an endowed faculty chair created in his honor, and was named alongside his wife Lyta as a Danforth Fellow, a program created to nurture and foster meaningful relations between faculty and students in undergraduate education.

Behind this impressive list of accomplishments was a humble and open-hearted man whose passion for teaching and the law was always evident. Bob embodied the COA spirit of lifelong study driven by curiosity and love for one’s chosen subject. His hopeful clarity about constitutional law and encouragement to continue deepening the lines of inquiry we opened in his classes are part of what drove me to pursue law school after graduating from COA. 

Bob aspired from an early age to be a teacher, and his dedication to his students showed through in the many ways he supported us—whether through a kind email, a home-cooked meal, or generosity with his time and expertise. His generosity also extended to the wider MDI community, where he was a member of the board of directors of Camp Beech Cliff and served as a deacon for the Somesville Union Meeting House United Church of Christ.

In addition to constitutional law and politics, there were two things that Bob would discuss with students whenever he could, always with a joyful twinkle in his eye. Those were his passion for cooking and his wife of 56 years, Lyta. Bob and Lyta met at a mixer in 1965, when she was a senior at Douglass College and he was pursuing his PhD at Princeton. In retirement, they restored a historic house in Southwest Harbor, and he delighted in inviting classes there for dinners made with the vegetables he had grown in his garden. Speaking to Bob always left me with the impression that he was someone living a life he truly loved, and having been inspired to follow that example, this might be my favorite of the many lessons I learned from him. The COA community was lucky to have called him a member, and he leaves a rich legacy of students whose lives he helped shape.