Former Glenville woman shot dead in Florida

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

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Sharon Seymour hadn’t lived in the region for many years, but whenever her family needed her, she returned home.

That’s what she did in 2009, when her 14-year-old niece committed suicide, one in a string of high school suicides that shocked the city and region.

“She was here to support everyone through that,” Seymour’s sister, Debra Ryan, recalled Wednesday. “She immediately jumped in her car and headed home.”

Now family members are left to mourn Seymour, formerly of Glenville, killed in her Florida home, possibly by her estranged husband. They had been married for 18 years, family said, but she had recently taken steps to end the relationship.

Seymour, 44, was found dead Saturday in Port St. Lucie, Fla., shot to death at the home she and her husband once shared.

Police identified Seymour by her married name, Sharon Fein. Family, though, identified her in an obituary published Wednesday under her maiden name, Sharon Lynn Seymour.

Lying near her was her estranged husband, Robert Fein, police said, suffering from what appeared to be a self-inflicted shotgun wound to his face. The 54-year-old man, though, was alive, breathing faintly. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment. Police said there had no updates Wednesday on Fein’s condition.

No criminal charges had been filed Wednesday, but police have named Fein as a suspect.

Police were directed to the home Saturday by Seymour’s sister in Schenectady, Lisa Seymour, according to Ryan and police there. Family members had gotten word that she hadn’t returned to a friend’s home, as she was expected to. Her estranged husband had called her over for something related to their dog, which Fein had possession of, Ryan said.

“She loved her dog,” Ryan said.

Ryan recalled her sister as someone who was universally loved.

“She was probably the only person I ever met that loved life more than anything,” Ryan, of Glenville, said. “She would walk into a room, and you would know she was there, not just because she was beautiful, but because she would always announce herself, ‘Hey, everybody, I’m here.’ ”

Ryan said Seymour was a free spirit who loved her family.

“She brought joy to everybody’s lives,” Ryan said. “She always saw the positive side to everything,”

Seymour was a woman who loved the beach and the ocean, moving to Florida from New Jersey a year ago to be near both. She learned to surf, even winning a surfing contest, family members said.

She also loved hockey, following the New York Islanders and Rangers.

“Anything active, she would do,” Ryan said. “She loved swimming. She loved the ocean.”

Seymour grew up in Glenville, graduating from Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School in 1984. After graduation, Ryan recalled, she moved to New Jersey with a boyfriend and stayed after that relationship ended. It was in New Jersey that she met and married Fein.

As the years went on, though, she wanted to leave Fein, but only recently got the courage to do so, Ryan said.

Seymour’s killing marks the second tragedy the family has had to deal with in just more than two years, the first being the suicide of her 14-year-old niece, Cherelle Clarke, in April 2009. Cherelle killed herself after intense bullying from other girls at school, the last in a series of four suicides in late 2008 and early 2009 that shocked the region.

Cherelle was the daughter of Lisa Seymour.

Services for Sharon Seymour are scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, 400 Saratoga Road. Calling hours are set for Friday evening from 4 to 7 at the Glenville Funeral Home, 9 Glenridge Road, Glenville.

Contributions in her memory can be made to the Montgomery County SPCA, P.O. Box 484, Amsterdam, NY 12010.