W. Perry Welch

OXFORD - W. Perry Welch of Oxford, MD, passed away on January 27, 2019. He was 82.
Born in New Haven, CT, he was the son of the late G. Harold Welch and the late Harriet Hitchcock Welch. He graduated from Groton School, Groton, MA in 1954. He was one of the three Prefects and Captain of the football team. He subsequently received his B.A. from Yale University in 1958. While there, he was on the varsity Polo team and was elected to the Senior Society, Book & Snake. He served as a Trustee of Society's Endowment Fund and Board of Directors for 46 years.
After Yale, he attended Officers Candidate School in Newport, RI, and was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He served as Communications Officer in the U.S.S. Lenawee, APA 195, for one and a half years in the Pacific followed by one and a half years as a member of the United States Taiwan Defense Command in Taipei. He left active duty as a LTjg.
Mr. Welch joined the Private Bank, Brown Brothers, Harriman & Co. where he remained for 33 years. He was a Domestic and International banker and served as Area Executive for Australia and New Zealand for over 25 years. He also was head of the Personal Financial Services department providing private banking and investment services to wealthy resident and non-resident individuals and their families.
After BBH, he became President and CEO of the American Australian Association (AAA), a not-for-profit, in New York City for three years. Their mission was to nurture the relationship between the United States and Australia and New Zealand. The AAA through its Sir Keith Murdock Education Foundation is now the largest provider in the United States of post-graduate scholarships for Australians to do further studies in U.S. and for U.S. graduates to study in Australia.
The Welches lived in Muttontown, Long Island, NY for 40 years. He was President of the Yale Alumni Association of Long Island, a Trustee of the Village of Muttontown for 25 years, Deputy Mayor for a time and Police Commissioner for 18 years representing the Village on the Board of the Old Brookville Police Department. He also was a member of the Piping Rock Club in Locust Valley, NY for 40 years.
The family moved in 2003 to Oxford in Talbot County on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Mr. Welch was a member of the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Club and the Tred Avon Yacht Club. He and his wife enjoyed cruising aboard their 40' Hatteras, Lady Catherine. His other interests included gardening and fly fishing.
Mr. Welch is survived by his wife of 66 years, Catherine Knott; two sons: W. Perry Welch Jr. and wife Karen, of Bellingham, WA; Andrew K. Welch and his wife Mariann, of Bainbridge Island, WA; daughter, Natalie W. Gilmore and her husband, John, of Hanover, PA. Another daughter, Wendy Welch Chusid passed away in 2009. He leaves 11 grandchildren and three brothers: G. Harold Welch Jr., of Ludlow, VT; Noble Welch, of Cos Cob, CT; and Wilford H. Welch, of Sausalito, CA. His sister, Carolyn Jenson Chadwick died in 2010.
A memorial service will be held at the Church of the Holy Trinity, 502 S. Morris St., Oxford, MD, on Saturday, February 2 at 3 p.m. Private inurnment with military honors will be in the Oxford Cemetery, Oxford, MD.
Memorial contributions may be made in his honor to Groton School, P.O. Box 991, Groton, MA 01450 or to LGS Foundation, 80 Orville Drive, Suite 100, Bohemia, NY 11716.
Funeral arrangements are by Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home, P.A., Easton.
For online condolences, please visit: www.fhnfuneralhome.com.