IN MEMORIAM

Ted Sumner, Novelist’s Son;

Wife, 3 Daughters Survive

COOPERSTOWN – Frederick “Ted” Sumner sailed away on Jan. 15, 2017, with family by his side, at Bassett Hospital, Cooperstown.

He is survived by his “favorite and only wife,” Sarah Cunningham Sumner, daughters Tara, Nicole and Sasha Sumner, grandchildren Alexander and Chloe Ford, nieces Meg Cutler Chandler, Gail Cutler, and Nancy Caroline Gamard, nephews George and Bill “Ibrahim” Gamard, and many great nieces and nephews.

Ted grew up in Ithaca and Jackson, Miss. He was the fifth child of Cornell Professor and Nobel Prize winning biochemist, James Batchellor Sumner, and Southern author Cid Ricketts Sumner, the author of the Tammy books (played by Debbie Reynolds in the filmed version) and Quality. Filmed as "Pinky," and directed by Elia Kazan, this was one of the first films to confront interracial relationships and depict them openly.