Deceased April 28, 2020
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In Memory
Both Chuck and his brother John ’49 attended Deerfield and then Amherst on scholarship. He was John Esty ’50’s roommate and close friend at both schools and onto into life in Concord, Mass., through their later years. Dad studied economics and music and started various entrepreneurial ventures such as a laundry delivery service and “The Decency League” while at Amherst. However, after a short stint at MIT for a B.A. in chemistry, he veered off the normal path for his generation, buying a decrepit schooner in the Caribbean with his visionary brother Bob and using it to ship guns to Cuba to support the rebellion against Batista (or at least, that’s the version he told). Countless adventures later, including starting the interracial jam session that became Preservation Hall in New Orleans and playing lead trumpet on the road with the Charlie Barnet Big Band, Chuck settled into a career of entrepreneurial technology development near Boston. He had a patent pending the day he died.
For me, his youngest son, he set an example to follow in many ways, inspiring me to earn degrees at both of his alma maters, traveling extensively to tropical realms, instilling a love of jazz and bringing my horn with me wherever I went. I will miss him very much, as will his children Lori, Bill and Sarah, seven stellar grandchildren and his colleagues from the class of 1950.
Matt Stevenson ’05
