Frank `Gino' Alvau, Pharmacist Who Promoted His Italian Heritage

Frank "Gino" Alvau, a Rainier Valley pharmacist who ran a children's hospital in Vietnam and contributed to Italian-heritage groups in Seattle, was always thinking of ways to help others as well as the planet.

A perpetual student of people, he brimmed with curiosity and lived with gusto, his family says.

He turned out charming sketches and watercolors in the studio he built in his back yard, and grew vegetables in his garden. As his strength declined, he was content to tuck tomato and zucchini plants into his regular flower garden.

"My dad was a wonderful artist," said daughter Vicki Serrano of Renton. "He was a fiddler, always fixing and making things. He did everything very well because he was an artist at heart."

Mr. Alvau died Thursday (March 25) of cardiac arrest. He was 81.

Born in Waterman, Pa., he moved to Seattle as a boy and graduated from Highline High School in Burien.

During World War II, he served as a hospital corpsman and did pharmacy work in the Navy. After the war, he earned a pharmacy degree at the University of Washington. Following an internship in Seattle's Georgetown area, he opened Gino's Rexall Pharmacy in Rainier Valley.

He also became active in the old Italian Club and the Dante Alighieri Society, both of which promote Italian history, language and culture.

Later, he joined the American Humanistic Association, which seeks positive solutions to world problems.

"He was strongly opinionated," said his granddaughter Mia Accettola of Auburn. "But it was cool because he was so knowledgeable and knew what he was talking about."

He sold his pharmacy in 1960 because of increasing competition from discount drugstore chains, his family said. Then he worked at those drugstores, with one break, until 1993.

During the height of the Vietnam War, he enlisted in the Marine Reserve. He traveled to Vietnam to run a children's hospital from 1966 to 1967. Then he directed the Hospital Corps School and trained medical-corps personnel in Great Lakes, Wis.

After a heart attack in 1973, he retired from the reserves and returned to his pharmacy work, art and community service in Seattle.

"My dad considered himself a humanist, a person concerned for human beings in general and for the planet," his daughter said. "He couldn't stand racism and was very strong in Democratic politics. He was just a very involved guy."

Also surviving are his wife of 54 years, Glenda Alvau of Renton; his daughters Toni Accettola, Auburn; Mari Pavia, Pittsburg, Calif.; Sheri Alvau, Germany; Judi Alvau, Maple Valley; and Lori Smith, Seattle; his son Frank Alvau, Renton; 12 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his son Tom Alvau and granddaughter Shannon Ivers.

He requested no services. Donations may go to the Union of Concerned Scientists, 2397 Shattuck Ave., Suite 203, Berkeley, CA 94704.

Carole Beers' phone message number is 206-464-2391. Her e-mail address is: cbeers@seattletimes.com