Shea Zellweger

Shea Zellweger, 96, of Alliance, Ohio, passed away on August 7, 2022.Shea was born on September 7, 1925 in Chicago, Illinois. As a young man, he enlisted in the United States Army, serving in Japan during MacArthur’s reconstruction. He went on to study in the Great Books Program at the University of Chicago, graduating with a BA in 1952 and then earned a
PhD in psychology from Temple University in 1966. Shea worked as a professor at the University of Nova Scotia and Perdue University. He flourished in the academic environment and was known for his creative, multidisciplinary lectures. In 1969, he was named Chairman of the Psychology Department at Mount Union College, a position he held for 24 years. Shea thrived teaching young minds and cultivating intellectual curiosity and creativity. His engaging classroom presence was unique and could almost be considered performance art. Shea conceived his Logic Alphabet in 1961 and continued developing it throughout the rest of his life. The Logic Alphabet is a system of logic notation that consists of 16 shape-valued signs. In the 1980s, he received patents in the U.S., Canada, and Japan on interactive devices to help a person use the Logic Alphabet. He had hoped that eventually his system would make advanced logic so easy to learn that it would be taught to children in elementary school. He published articles and traveled all over the world to present the Alphabet. His Logic Alphabet models became part of the Collection of the Institute for Figuring and the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, California. For the curious, the logic alphabet is described at https://logic-alphabet.net/ Shea married three times. First to Margery Trescott, a fellow student at the University of Chicago. Later single, in 1960 he married Alice Trasatto, a fellow student at Temple University, helping to raise her daughter Cindy. And single again in 1980, Shea began corresponding with Aleida Windsor in faraway Canada, eventually meeting and marrying her. Their union lasted 38
years. In 1993, Shea retired from Mount Union and spent his time renovating his home, visiting local events, and traveling with Aleida. He was renowned for his collection of 10,000 books, which included hundreds of antique English grammars and books on almost any topic imaginable. Shea was predeceased by his wife Aleida on February 18, 2022, as well as five of his six siblings: Michael, Robert, Arthur, Charles, and Gloria. He is survived by his sister Margareth, his daughters Polle, Holly, and Cindy, and his grandchildren Molly, Gavin, Andrew, and Christian.
The family thanks Karen Quinn, Rhonda Russell, and the many friends who provided support, love and care to Aleida and Shea, allowing them to live independently until 2022. Shea and Aleida will be interred at the Mount Union columbarium following Shea’s celebration of life at Mount Union’s Dewald Chapel on October 15 at 2:00pm.