Sharon Vergez Vercellotti's Obituary
Sharon passed away at 1:37 pm on Saturday, December 30, 2023 at the Fidelis I home in Mandeville, LA. She was born on December 21, 1941, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Thelma Galloway Vergez and Henri Leon Vergez of Covington, Louisiana, both predeceased. Sharon’s brother, Henri Leon Vergez, Jr., was predeceased in 2018. He has left a daughter, Marcelline Cheong (Albert), born in 1978, and she lives in Oklahoma. Sharon’s husband, John Vercellotti, and their two children, Ellen Theresa, born in 1969 in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Paul Auguste, born in 1975 in Blacksburg, Virginia have been a joy for Sharon over the years. Paul has a son, Kiran, Sharon’s grandson, who was born on October 4, 2009. They live in Berkeley, California.
After many years with difficulty to control brittle Type I diabetes and other metabolic problems, Sharon finally succumbed to the effects of two serious strokes in July of 2023. She was paralyzed on her left side and robbed her of her ability to remember and speak. Sharon’s family invites friends to a celebration and memorial of her life starting at 9:30 am to 11:00am in St. Peter Catholic Church on South Jefferson Street in Covington, LA on Friday, January 5. This will be followed by a funeral Mass at 11:00 am. After the Mass the Fielding Funeral Home will transport her remains to Pinecrest Cemetery for burial.
Sharon grew up in Covington in the home of her grandparents (Auguste Marcellin and Berthe Vergez) and parents at 113 East Twenty-fifth Avenue. This family site has been a fixture in Covington back to the beginning of the last century. Sharon was immersed in the activity of the blacksmith, wagon, and iron-working shop that supported the family. Her father, Henri, and grandfather, Auguste Marcellin, were both well known in Covington, especially for their many decades as volunteer firemen as well as Henri’s service as fire chief for thirteen years.
In this milieu Sharon became skilled in many types of craftsmanship. She excelled in her early schooling. Graduating as Valedictorian of her 1959 Covington High School class she went on to earn a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She was encouraged to continue graduate work in chemistry and enrolled at The Ohio State University. She excelled in her research and studied there, publishing several papers on the iron macrocyclic ligands of hemoglobin models. After earning her master’s degree in chemistry she made a conscious decision not to complete a PhD in inorganic chemistry, eager to instead broaden her experience in the biomedical area. She worked in an internationally diverse group of scientists at the University of Texas Graduate Medical Research Center in Richardson.
Sharon and John met at Ohio State and were married on September 3, 1966, in Covington at St. Peter Church. By this time, John was a faculty member at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. Sharon worked in the Hematology Department of the Marquette Medical School, where her knowledge of macrocyclic iron ligands was beneficial to her project. The Vercellotti’s moved to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville where John was a faculty member in Chemistry and Sharon worked in a biochemistry lab at the Medical School. Their next academic home was Virginia Tech, where John was a tenured full professor of biochemistry. Sharon worked with an oxidation-reduction enzymologist using her enzyme complex kinetics skills and handled everything from enzyme isolations to characterization. Sharon and the family accompanied husband John to the G. Ronzoni Institute in Milan, Italy, for a sabbatical research year 1977-78. Sharon worked there on glycosaminoglycan enzyme kinetics.
During the ten years at Virginia Tech, Sharon said, “it became more apparent to me that there was a whole emerging field of biochemical research built on the ubiquitous metabolism of carbohydrates that spanned the gamut of pharmacology, immune responses, cancer medicine, materials science, human nutrition, and renewable bioenergy. The chemistry of carbohydrates is one of the cornerstones of all organic and biological chemistry.” For the next forty-four years Sharon built the V-LABS, INC. in Covington as a company affording considerable support to the biomedical industries of the world. Moving into this world of entrepreneurism in science Sharon combined her magnificent ability to combine motherhood with the profession. Back in Covington the children were enrolled in the St. Peter Catholic School. Sharon was also active in the school parents club during those years. She also enjoyed being invited to give book reviews for meetings of the Altar and Rosary.
Sharon has used her laboratory in Covington to mentor many promising science, engineering, and medical students from the neighboring honors programs at Mandeville and Covington High Schools. Her knowledge of cost accounting for materials as well as time/effect has been handed on to these students. A total of twenty-eight fortunate students have worked with Sharon over the years.
Sharon has been honored for these efforts with an invitation to deliver the commencement address at St. Mary’s -of-the-Woods College and receive the Degree Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa. There have been many other responsibilities which she has shouldered such as presidency of the Louisiana State American Association of University Women; an outstanding service award by the women’s honorary in chemistry, Iota Sigma Pi; Fellow of the American Chemical Society; 2019 72nd Edition of Who’s Who in America, full page write-up, as a distinguished American scientist and business person; and, most recently, The American Chemical Society Division of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Glycobiology Derek Horton Award in Industrial Carbohydrate Chemistry, in March of 2023.
Our family wishes to thank Fr. Dan Dashner of The Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church for his visits to the Fidelis I home to administer the sacraments and his prayers on behalf of Sharon. We were well acquainted with Fr. Dan from his earlier assignment at St. Peter Parish. The family thanks David Noll for his inestimable help that he has been to us during this difficult time, as a friend of our daughter, Ellen. We wish to express heartfelt thanks for all the tender care given to Sharon at the Fidelis I home. The attendants were there with her around the clock. During these difficult months the Compassus Hospice Care staff were so generously checking on everything from diet to blood glucose insulin administration. A large number of Vercellotti brothers and sisters siblings, nephews and nieces, scattered all over the country, so appreciated Sharon as a happy spirit who always would brighten a day.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Funeral Mass at St. Peter Catholic Church, 125 E. 19th Avenue, Covington LA 70433 on Friday, January 5, 2024, at 11:00 AM with visitation at church on Friday beginning at 9:30 AM. Interment will follow in Pinecrest Memorial Gardens.
The Vercellotti family invites you to share thoughts, fondest memories, and condolences online at E. J. Fielding Funeral Home Guest Book at www.ejfieldingfh.com.
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