Mark A. Sellers Jr.

Mark Ashley Sellers, Jr., a longtime advocate for wildlife and the natural habitats of animals, particularly the endangered copperbelly water snake, died on Oct. 21 in Grand Rapids of heart failure and complications from post-polio syndrome, which began affecting him more than 50 years after he recovered from a childhood battle with polio. He was 77.

Mr. Sellers had already earned four college degrees, served three years as assistant pastor at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, and worked with various community organizations in Grand Rapids when he returned to college to study his lifelong passion — snakes.

In 1983, shortly after earning his degree in natural resources management from Grand Valley State University, he made a significant herpetological discovery in Hillsdale County, near the Indiana border: a thriving colony of copperbellies, harmless, black-and-orange water snakes that hadn't been observed in the state of Michigan in more than two decades

"To find a whole colony," he said in his son John's memoir The Old Man and the Swamp, "it was a rare case of being in the right place at the right time."

He spent the rest of his career conducting federal- and state-funded environmental surveys across the midwest, and fighting to protect the Hillsdale "coppers" and other reptile populations from developers and poachers. In part because of him, these endangered species still survive today in Michigan.

Mark Ashley Sellers Jr., was born on September 15, 1940, in Washington, D.C. He and his sister, Kathy, were raised by their parents, attorney Mark Ashley Sellers Sr. and the former Katherine Luther, in Arlington, Va., and the capital. After graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1958, Mr. Sellers studied at Washington and Lee University and the University of North Carolina, where he majored in English literature and earned the first of his degrees, in 1963. As a student, he was active in the civil rights movement of that time and had rocks and vitriolic obscenities hurled at him while protesting segregation policies. He went on to amass a BA and MA in religion from George Washington University, a theology degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and a BA in natural resources management from Grand Valley State University.

He is immediately survived by Tina Martin, his beloved companion of 17 years; his sons, Matt, John, and Mark, from his 19-year marriage to the former Pamela Cheetwood; and a granddaughter, Clara. His sister, Kathy Patman Johnson, resides in Texas, as do his her children Philip Patman and Katherine Patman Vesely, and their respective families.

Family and friends know that no summation of his life would be complete without mentioning Bob Dylan. Love it or hate it, no one could spend much time with Mark without being subjected to a tsunami of Dylan songs, trivia, and lyrical references. Mark also had a penchant for wielding quotes from his favorite movies (most notably, "Prove it," a line from the movie Shane, and “I’m not Rappaport!,” a line from the Walter Matthau movie I’m Not Rappaport.) He also had a strange and unique knack for coining his own aphorisms and phrases.

He stuttered his entire life, though less so  in later years, and felt most at home in nature among animals and close friends and family who didn’t judge him because of his stuttering.

He was notoriously late to appointments. In a 2010 email, Mr. Sellers sent a characteristically deadpan message to his sons about his next journey:

"If death — the last comma and semicolon of life — comes," he wrote, "I will be, as usual, late and may not even be there."

A celebration of Mr. Sellers' life will be held at The Cottage Bar, 18 La Grave Ave., SE, Grand Rapids, on Sunday, Nov. 5, at 4 p.m. His family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his memory to the Michigan Nature Association.  https://www.michigannature.org

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