Deaths

Kyle Ambrogi, Penn Senior

Mr. Kyle Ambrogi, a senior in Wharton, majoring in finance, and a running back on the Penn football team, died October 10 at the age of 21 at his home in Havertown, PA.

Mr. Ambrogi was born July 4, 1984 in Bryn Mawr, PA. He attended St. Joseph’s Preparatory School where he was a member of their football team. He was the Philadelphia 2001 City Player of the Year and received St. Joseph’s Prep 2002 Alumni Award. A member of the Quaker football team, he appeared in every game since his sophomore year. In the October 8 game vs. Bucknell, he had five carries for 18 yards and two touchdowns.

Mr. Ambrogi is survived by his mother, Donna and brother, Greg, a sophomore in Wharton, who is also on the Penn football team. Memorial donations may be made to St. Joseph’s Prep Football Alumni or Penn Football Alumni.

Dr. Cebra, Biology

Dr. John J. Cebra, the Annenberg Professor of the Natural Sciences and Professor of Biology, died October 7 at the age of 71. Dr. Cebra had served as the biology department chair 1979-1983 and 1987-1990. During his tenure at Penn, he was named a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow in 1983 and was elected a Foreign Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 1998.

Of the many awards and honors that Dr. Cebra had received, those most meaningful to him were the American Association of Immunologists Award for Excellence in Mentoring received in April 2005, and the First Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Mucosal Immunology received in June 2005.

Born in Philadelphia, he graduated from Penn with an B.A. in chemistry in 1955,  followed by a Ph.D. in protein chemistry from Rockefeller University in 1960 under the thesis advisement of M.W. Chase. Prior to his arrival at Penn in 1979 as a professor, Dr. Cebra served as an assistant professor and later associate professor at the University of Florida, 1961-1966. He also served as associate professor of biology, 1967-1969 and professor, 1970-1979 at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Cebra was a recipient of the Eli Lilly Award in Microbiology and Immunology in 1968.

Dr. Cebra came to Penn in 1979 as professor of biology. Two years later he was named the Annenberg Professor of the Natural Sciences, a position he held until his death.

He is survived by his wife Ethel; three sons,  Daniel, Christopher, and Jonathan, a daughter, Judy Cebra-Thomas, his mother, Jenny; and five grandchildren.

A  memorial service will be held Sunday, October 23 at 2 p.m. at the Lumberton Leas Community Center, 180 Woodside Drive, Lumberton, N.J.  A departmental memorial service is also being planned; details will be published. Memorial donations may be made to the New Jersey Audubon Society or the Philadelphia Zoo.