Sol Solomon

1947 - 2022

Sol Solomon

Sutton, NH — Sol Manny Solomon, 74, of Sutton, died in Boston on March 2, after a brief, vicious illness that took him away from us too soon and too suddenly. He was born in the Bronx on June 3, 1947, to Manny and Lillian (Battino) Solomon. He graduated from Taft High School in the Bronx.

After two years at City College in New York, Sol solo backpacked around Europe, then spent a year on Kibbutz in Israel. He loved people and was open-hearted and eager to meet them, get to know them, and listen to their stories. Returning home, he spent a summer working with Don West, political activist and poet, at West's camp for low-income youth in West Virginia. There he met Ronald Goodman, poet and activist, with whom he formed an intentional community in Hinton, WV.

It was at the commune that Sol met the love of his life, Kathy, who later became his wife. They lived in Brooklyn Heights when Sol worked for William Morrow Publishers in New York. When they moved to the Bronx, Sol worked for the Riverdale Press and wrote the series of stories on cleaning up the Hudson River that won a press award for the paper.

The couple moved to Weare, NH in 1975, and founded a company that distributed alternative lifestyle magazines, books, and natural bodycare items to natural food stores, coops and country stores in New England. They moved to Sutton in 1978, and grew the business to include natural healing products. Sol was a major force for introducing and distributing Homeopathic remedies to natural foods stores all over the country, and educating people in their use. The business was eventually remodeled to focus on sales and marketing rather than distribution in the '80's, and Sol remained a respected and dynamic voice throughout the natural products industry, helping many small companies grow into a national presence. Sol often joked that his main job in life was that of "Goddess Maintenance," and he was happiest in his role of "Popoo" to his three beloved granddaughters.

In recent years, Sol has often been a "My Turn" contributor to the Concord Monitor, rediscovering his love for writing and submitting his thoughtful and reasonable essays, pleas for us all to live in peace and harmony as caretakers of the Earth and each other.

He was an active tennis player. He loved his garden, and was an enthusiastic organic gardener who always grew enough to give away to friends and neighbors.

He leaves his wife and partner of 52 years, Kathy, a daughter, Jennifer Lachance and much loved granddaughter, Eliza, of Sutton, and Eliza's dad, Maurice Lachance of Pembroke; a son, Noah Solomon, and his wife, Kelly, and two much loved granddaughters, Annabel and Whitley, of Watertown, MA; a sister, Annette Ridenour and her husband, Roger Hill, of San Diego; and a brother, Ed Benn, of Texas. He also leaves one beloved uncle, and many cousins, nieces, and nephews, as well as numerous lunch companions, friends, business associates, colleagues, and mentees who loved him as a friend as well as a man of kindness, generosity and integrity in the natural products industry.

A Celebration of Life is being planned for later in the year. For those who wish, memorial donations can be made to your local library and/or food bank.