Juan Francisco Gelats of Boca Raton and formerly of Palm Beach, died Thursday, May 29, 2008, after an extended illness. He was 48.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Mr. Gelats was raised in Palm Beach. He was valedictorian of his class at Cardinal Newman High School and Georgetown University.

A certified public accountant, he was a senior accounting manager at Cross Country Home Services in Fort Lauderdale.

Before his death, Mr. Gelats established a fund to assist families of cancer patients undergoing bone-marrow transplants at The Nebraska Medical Center, where he had been successfully treated in 1994.

Mr. Gelats is survived by his parents, Narciso and Margarita Gelats; his grandmother, Margarita Zayas Rabell; and a sister, Cristina Gelats, all of Palm Beach; his sister, Margie Connors and her husband, Bill, of Rowayton, Conn.; his brother, Jose Gelats of Tampa; his sister, Ani Montes, and her husband, Lin, of Coral Springs; and his nieces and nephews, Maggie, Anna, Will and Kate Connors and Nicholas and Ana Montes.

Memorial donations may be made to The Nebraska Medical Center: The Juan Gelats Patient Assistance Fund, 987421 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198-7421, or at www.nebraskamed.com.

Private funeral services were held at Quattlebaum Funeral Home in West Palm Beach.