Born: August 25, 1940
Died: March 18, 2020

Herbert Clement Jurgeleit was born in New York City son of Herbert Frederick and Helene Elizabeth Grunicke Jurgeleit. He was the eldest of two brothers. He grew up in Oceanside, New York, while spending many summers at his family’s farm in Townshend, Vermont. He later spent 2 summers as a laboratory assistant at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Clem was an avid fan of orchestral and big band music. He took piano and clarinet lessons as a child and enjoyed playing both instruments his entire life.

He prepared for Yale at St. Paul’s School in Garden City, N.Y. At Yale he was a member of Silliman and Alpha Chi Sigma. He served as a College Aide, was a Ranking Scholar and on Dean’s List. Clem was a Chemistry (Honors) Major. He performed in the Football Band as well as the Concert Band during his four years at Yale.

In the Banner he listed his future occupation as “medicine” and his prediction was absolutely correct. After graduation he attended Harvard Medical School and earned his Doctor of Medicine in 1966. Following medical school he had an additional 6 years of training, two in Ann Arbor and the balance in Boston. This training was interrupted by two years’ service in the Navy, including a tour of duty in Da Nang, Vietnam.

In 1974 Clem opened his own surgical practice in Bangor, Maine where he served patients throughout all of eastern and northern Maine for 26 years as a general and emergency room surgeon. In 2000 he closed his Bangor practice and moved to northern Maine to work for hospitals in Presque Isle, Maine and New Brunswick, Canada. He resided in Presque Isle until his retirement in 2013. He was a highly skilled and well-respected surgeon and deeply committed to his profession.

Dr. Jurgeleit and his first wife Sally Hyde married in 1965 and raised 3 children during their 30 year marriage. The family spent time together exploring the Maine outdoors on foot, in a canoe, by bicycle and on skis. He wrote in our 25th Reunion Book: “We spend a fair amount of our recreation time in the winter at our small ski camp at Sugarloaf; hiking and backpacking trips are worked into the summer time. I did a fair amount of white-water canoeing during the spring but in recent years I have become less enthusiastic about getting wet in 40 degree water.”

Clem also played clarinet with the Bangor Band, with a local German band and with the Houlton (Me.) Band. He also enjoyed gardening and reading. One medical colleague also remembered Clem “driving around town in his flashy yellow convertible.”

His first marriage ended in divorce. In 2003 he married Annette Snell in Guilford, Vermont at a home they affectionately called “Casa Bella.” They also spent several weeks each year vacationing in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and in southern California. His life with Annette was very happy. The many condolences posted in the Bangor Daily News by his former nurses and surgical staff showed the respect and high regard he earned during his career.

Clem died at his home in Houlton, Maine with Annette by his side. In addition to his widow, he is survived by his three children and their spouses: Peter Jurgeleit and Carolyn Morehouse of Chicago, Philip and Gretchen Jurgeleit of Barrington, R.I., and Anne and Charles McCormick of Little Rock, Arkansas. He is also survived by his seven grandchildren Cooper and Charlotte Jurgeleit, Alexa and Samuel Jurgeleit, Todd and Alice McCormick and Nicholas Andriola; his stepdaughter and her husband Molly and Thomas Andriola of Porter, Texas, his sister-in-law Barbara Jurgeleit of Cincinnati and his niece Karen Colyer of Gahanna, Ohio. He was predeceased by his parents and his younger brother Peter.

– R. G. Oliver