Mark Kenneth Seymour

Mark K. Seymour, who worked more than two decades in law enforcement and carried out his professional and personal life with resilience, compassion, bountiful common sense and inexhaustibly buoyant humor, died January 8 in Richmond, VA. He was 68 years old and had called Virginia his home since the 1970s.

He was born August 19, 1957, in Hartford, CT, the youngest of three children to William P. and Madalene (Stone) Seymour, whom he survived. Mark was athletically inclined from childhood and excelled in youth baseball. He attended Mark Twain School in Hartford and the Loomis-Chaffee School in Windsor CT, where he graduated in 1975. He received a bachelor’s degree in physical education, health and fitness in 1979 from Virginia State University in Petersburg, VA. Between 1979 and 1982, Mark taught physical education and health at Matoaca Middle School in Chesterfield, VA

Mark left teaching to join the Eighth Basic Academy, Unit 105 of the Chesterfield County Police Department in January 1982. After graduation, he served with the department and held various positions, including a stint as a school resource officer at James River High School in Midlothian, VA, where he also worked as an assistant track coach. He finished his career as the resource officer at Matoaca High School in Ettrick, VA. He retired from the police department in 2010.

Mark’s professional attitude as a policeman blended fairness and toughness in equal measure, leavened by an innate perspective on human folly he inherited from his late father William, with whom he also shared an impulsive sense of humor.

Mark also served in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve between 1985 and 1993. After leaving police work, he became qualified to work on heating and refrigeration systems and repairing mobile devices. Since November 2019, he worked part-time for the Virginia Department of Corrections to make background checks of potential employees.

Mark’s steadfast fidelity to family, friends and community service was reflected in many aspects of his life. He pledged with the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity while attending Virginia State and for the rest of his life took enthusiastic part in activities and reunions held by the fraternity’s Petersburg alumni chapter.

Such abiding loyalty was especially manifest in the intense manner Mark held fast to the sports teams he rooted for since childhood. His lifelong devotion to the Boston Red Sox was sealed tight by the Sox’s “Impossible Dream” World Series run of 1967, the year Mark turned 10 years old. When after decades pockmarked with crushing playoff losses, the Red Sox finally won the series in 2004, Mark made the 550-plus-mile drive from Richmond to Boston to bear witness to the city’s parade reveling in their long-deferred championship. He made return road trips to Beantown when the BoSox Won It All in 2007, 2013, and 2018. He was also committed from youth to the National Football League’s Rams franchise whether located in Los Angeles, St. Louis or back to L.A. and his tenacious fandom was rewarded by the Rams’ two Super Bowl victories in 2000 and 2020. He stayed true to his New England roots by cheering for the National Hockey League’s Boston Bruins and the University of Connecticut’s men’s and women’s basketball teams.

Mark is survived by his daughters Victoria Seymour Perlaza (Danny) and Amanda Gail Seymour; granddaughters Eliana Victoria and Camila Isabela Perlaza; a brother Eugene M. (Gene) Seymour, a sister Dorothy Seymour Johnson; several nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.

A memorial service will be held Thursday, January 22, at Woody Funeral Home, 1020 Huguenot Road, Midlothian, VA. Hour-long family visitation will begin at 10 a.m. with a celebration of Mark’s life at 11 a.m., followed by a reception until 2 p.m.

The family appreciates your understanding that seating capacity is limited at the venue. An overflow area, as well as a livestream, will be available. Guests can also join the service virtually via the link provided on the website. In lieu of flowers, please consider sending a donation to Virginia State University.