Charles Longsworth

Charles Longsworth

Concord, MA - Charles R. (Chuck) Longsworth, former President of Hampshire College, who died January 8th in Concord, MA, lived an active life from boyhood in Fort Wayne, IN, and Wellesley, MA, through a high-profile career in Amherst, MA, and Williamsburg, VA, and into retirement in the wild solitude of northern Massachusetts, a state to which he was devoted. Always constant were summers on Cape Cod, where family and friends gathered to surf, fish, and swim, inspiring one of Chuck's favorite expressions, "This is livin'!"

He often said the highlight of his 95 years was marrying Polly Ormsby, his companion, anchor, and bellwether. They were partners for 68 years, and different from each other but equals in all ways.

Chuck carried his midwestern values of trust, decency, simplicity, and honor throughout his life. He was close to his grandparents on both sides and loved the family farm in Hicksville, Ohio. Moving east in 1939, he excelled at Wellesley High School and graduated from Amherst College (Phi Beta Kappa) and Harvard Business School. His many early jobs included selling Mandeville and King flower seeds to retailers across the State of Maine.

To his four daughters, Chuck could be an exacting father, as well as the most exciting person ever. Capable of walking, he preferred to mobilize via contraption, be it a kayak, canoe, sailboat, car, truck, ski, bicycle, powerboat, or airplane. The girls grew up learning to navigate and conquer fear from a young age. An accomplished pilot, skier (his tales of Tuckerman's Ravine are legendary), and canoeist, his devotion to Camp Wabun and the lakes of Canada ran deep.

Chuck was proud of his Marine Corps service from 1953-1955, where he rose to First Lieutenant and was a noted marksman. Following five years in advertising (at Campbell Soup and Ogilvy, Benson & Mather), he returned to Amherst College. After running a successful capital campaign, he was asked to be point person for the fledgling educational project that became Hampshire College. Over ten years he assembled apple orchards and dairy farms in South Amherst, hired staff, oversaw the building of a campus, co-authored a book, The Making of a College, and raised millions of dollars. He became Hampshire's second president in 1971.

In 1977, Chuck was recruited to be President of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Williamsburg, VA, retiring 17 years later as Board Chair in 1994. He worked to include the overlooked history and experiences of Black people in the South, while also expanding the museum's physical plant and increasing visitation. Flying his plane for both business and pleasure, he served on many boards, including Amherst College, the Folger Library, Houghton Mifflin, Flight Safety, and Saul Centers. Williamsburg consumed not only him, but also Polly, who planned and hosted countless events, at which she excelled, while engaged in her own writing career. Rosegill, a sprawling farm with an agricultural airstrip on the Rappahannock River, provided a retreat and salvation.

In later years, Chuck and Polly settled into life on their farm in Royalston, MA, where he pursued his passions for timbering, fishing, and woodworking. Chuck and Polly built a cabin using trees from the property. His barn was a wonderland of tools and machinery; in it he produced everything from boats to benches and banana hangers. Scrupulously, he noted and informed The New York Times editors of their grammatical errors, checked the beaver dam, replenished the woodpile, and mowed the pastures on his beloved tractor.

Chuck was an independent thinker, a visionary, and an adventurer of the first order. Also an educator, creator, connoisseur, and critic. Suffering dementia in his last years, he remained loving and an A+ hand-holder. He is survived by Polly; his daughters Amy, Lizzy, Laura, and Annie; their partners Jeff Smith, Tom Kreyche, and John Dallas; and grandchildren Nathaniel (Merrill McCluskey) and Lydia Horne, Aurora Kreyche, Lucia Metz, and Johnny and Piper Dallas.

Service details will be announced at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, kindly make donations to Hampshire College at hamp.it/Longsworth.

To share a remembrance or to offer a condolence in Chuck's online guestbook, please visit www.DeeFuneralHome.com.