Quincy Abbot Obituary, Death – Quincy Sewall Abbot, 90, of West Hartford, died quietly on January 3, 2023, at Seabury in Bloomfield, surrounded by his daughters Jayne and Sue, as a result of complications from severe pancreatic and prostate cancer. Zelia Gillam Abbot, his wife of 66 years, and their four daughters, Elizabeth Abbot Segnalini of Rome, Italy, Susan Abbot Pelletier of Groton, MA, Rebecca Abbot of Windsor, CT, and Jayne Abbot of Asheville, NC, survive, as do grandchildren Andrea and Matteo Segnalini of Trento, Italy, and great-grandchildren Elia and Luca Segnalini of Trento, Italy.
Massimo Segnalini, Robert Pelletier, and Stan Cross, as well as step-grandchildren John Pelletier and wife Natalia, and Claire Pelletier Nizzardo; step-great-granddaughters Isadora and Antonella Pelletier; and relatives from other branches of the family tree, will be devastated by his passing. Many others in the advocacy community, with whom he had been connected since the 1970s, will miss his wit, wisdom, and wordplay, as will his spiritual companions at West Hartford’s First Church of Christ, where he had been an active member for many years.
He was fascinated with genealogy and was quite proud of his New England lineage. He was the son of Kingston, Pennsylvania residents Theodore Sewall Abbot and Alice Howell Abbot. Judge Samuel Sewall of 17th century Boston, Joseph Hale, brother of patriot Nathan Hale, and three of the four early settlers on Cape Ann, MA were among his predecessors. Based on a collection of family documents and publications dating back to the 18th century, he wrote and self-published From Schoolboy to Soldier: The Journals and Correspondence of Edward Stanley Abbot, about his great uncle, who died from injuries sustained during the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg.
He belonged to the Connecticut Landmarks Society, the New England Historic and Genealogical Society, Historic Beverly, the Connecticut Historical Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the American Antiquarian Society, among other organizations. For three years, he worked in the Contracts Branch of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, analyzing pension and group insurance costs levied against the Army under cost-type contracts. He founded and led the Connecticut General Tax Departments, which eventually amalgamated with CIGNA. He was a driving influence behind the 1984 Congressional life insurance tax adjustment and the 1986 casualty insurance tax reform. He left CIGNA as Senior Vice President in 1992.