Priscilla Anne Tennant

Priscilla Anne (Trayers) Tennant died on December 15, 2019. She was 85 years old. She is predeceased by her husband Bud Christopher Tennant, and she is survived by her children, Christopher Joseph Tennant, Priscilla Anne Tennant, and Carolyn Irene Tennant, her son-in-law John Thomas Rinker, and her grand-children, Courtney Brazee, Devon Tennant, and Matilda Rinker-Tennant. Priscilla was born on January 6, 1934 in Boston, Massachusetts, and was raised in Dorchester.

She attended Girls Latin School, where she served as president of the graduating class of 1951. At Simmons College she studied nutrition and eventually pursued a dietetic internship at Walter Reed Medical Center. In 1955 she entered the military, received basic training at Fort Sam Huston, and later served as a dietician in Orleans, France. She resigned her commission to be with her mother after her father died and returned to Boston where she worked at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Frances Stern Nutrition Clinic. She later rejoined the military, serving as a Captain in the Dietetic wing of Walter Reed Medical Center. It was there that she met her husband, Lieutenant Bud Tennant and in 1963 the two married. They relocated to Davis, California until eventually settling in Ithaca, New York in 1972. In 1974, with support from the GI Bill, she pursued a Master’s degree in Health Education at SUNY Cortland and would later teach Nutrition and Geriatric Nutrition, her life-long interest and specialty, at Ithaca College. She was hired as a registered dietician at Cayuga Medical Center, and held the position of Director of Dietetic Services from 1980 until she retired in 1989. During the 1990s she lectured in Food Service and Institutional Management at the School of Human Ecology’s Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University and she received the SUNY Chancellors’ Award. With her husband she co-founded the biotech company Marmotech, Inc. (1990-2016). She was an active member of PEO, and the Women’s Veterinary Circle at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Priscilla Tennant loved deeply, and was deeply loved. The Tennant family would like to thank the staffs of Four North at Cayuga Medical Center, the Taughannock House at Kendal, and Drs. Anne and John Costello for their support. A mass will be held for Priscilla Tennant at 10am on February 22, 2020 at St Catherine’s of Sienna Church in Ithaca, New York. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Hepatitis B Foundation (3805 Old Easton Rd, Doylestown, PA 18902), to the Suicide Awareness for Everyone (S.A.F.E.) Coalition (106 South Perry St., Watkins Glen, NY 14891), or to a charity of your choice.

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