George J. Merva, CCC’55, a retired laboratory administrator of nearly 60 years in the department of pathology & laboratory medicine in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, died on March 11. He was 88 years old.

Mr. Merva was born in Morrisdale, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the Marines toward the end of World War II; after the war ended, he was stationed at Philadelphia’s Navy Yard. He joined the Penn staff in 1953 while still in the reserves and finished his service as a second lieutenant. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Penn in 1955.

A polymath for the laboratories in the John Morgan Building, Mr. Merva served on the Penn Med staff for 58 years, assisting in research administration and the education of medical students. For many years, he put together the course guide for Pathology 101. Known to hundreds of medical students and many researchers and faculty, he was instrumental in creating the student course-evaluation forms (HAMSTER). Before the advent of computers, he collated all of the statistics by hand. He was a medical history buff: he was responsible for salvaging 19th-century wax anatomy models that are now part of the Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians. He retired from Penn at age 84 on Veterans Day in 2011.

Mr. Merva is survived by six children, Mary Ellen Kenworthey, Nu’76, George J. Merva, Jr., Michael Merva, FA’82, GFA’88, Jean M. Bulmer, Nu’80, GNu’85, John R. Merva, W’85, and David Merva; three grandchildren, Beau, Claire and Grace Anne; and a brother, John Edward, “Ed.”

Donations may be sent in his name to the Friends of Black Moshannon State Park, c/o Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation, 1845 Market Street, Suite 202, Camp Hill, PA 17011.