Charles (Chick) Henry Martin

Charles Henry (Chick) Martin and Ann Browne Martin passed away peacefully in January 2025, just a few weeks apart, surrounded by their family and loved ones. The two were united in marriage over 60 years and enjoyed a wonderful and full life together.

Chick was born on July 2, 1937, in Passaic, New Jersey to William Linus Martin and Gertrude F. Martin. He was the youngest of five children and was affectionally called Chick throughout his life. He grew up in West Orange, New Jersey and spent summers at his family's home on the Jersey Shore playing in and around military bunkers during WWII. He loved sharing stories of finding enemy soldiers' bodies washed ashore near their beach house.

He graduated high school from the prestigious Pingry School in 1955. He then graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1959 with a degree in business. After college, Chick earned an MBA in 1960 from the NYU School of Business and obtained his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) in the early 1970s.

Chick started his career on Wall Street as a stockbroker in the early 1960s. In the late 1960s, Chick moved his family to Dallas and continued his brokerage career at Schneider, Burnett and Hickman. In the mid 1970s, he joined the Southland Corporation where he ultimately became the CEO of their Chief Auto Parts division. After Chief, he worked for a new startup in Dallas called Blockbuster Video. Chick was Chief Operating Officer at Blockbuster and later became a Blockbuster franchisee. Chick rounded out his career as a financial analyst for Gurun and Associates, a position he held until just before his death.

Chick was very involved in his community. He was a stalwart with the Notre Dame Club of Dallas and served as its president in the 1970s. He served on boards for The Shelton School, Bishop Lynch High School and John Paul II High School. He was also active in the Addison Rotary Club.

Chick was a prolific writer. Consider yourself fortunate if you were a recipient of one of his "white papers." He thought highly of you if he granted you access to these musings. His observations of the world around him and his ability to be forward thinking enabled him to predict future economic and financial trends. Perhaps this is why he was such a good stockbroker and financial analyst.

Chick was also an avid photographer. He worked in all mediums including still and film. He was the class photographer in high school and college. He entertained his children with the magic show of the darkroom revealing the process to develop film from negatives into pictures. As a semi-professional at his craft, Chick photographed numerous family portraits for friends and family over the years. His cherished Hasselblad camera was the crown jewel of his antique camera collection.

Ann was born on January 31, 1938, in Houston, Texas to Paul DuRoss Browne and Margaret Miller Browne. Ann spent her early years in Houston before her family settled in East Dallas in the 1940s. Ann attended St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School and Ursuline Academy for elementary school. She graduated high school from Ursuline Academy in 1956. Ann then attended St. Mary's of the Woods College in Terra Haute, Indiana and earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1960. After college, Ann worked in a coveted position in Boston at Harvard Medical School as a lab assistant.

After raising their three children, Ann reentered the workforce in the early 1980's. She worked at the original Tuesday Morning on Inwood Road and then became a consultant for an executive relocation firm. Ann later managed several notable foundations in the DFW area, including The Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Foundation, The Eugene McDermott Foundation, and The Wacker Foundation. Ann retired from her foundation work in the early 2000's.

Ann was a chemist and scientist, a whiz at math, and a lover of Asian art. She lamented that her only low grades in high school were in PE. She loved cheering her kids and grandkids on in their activities and rarely missed a game or event. She also loved all animals and pets, especially dogs, cats and horses.

Ann and Chick met on a blind date on New Years Eve in 1962 while they were both in Dallas for the holidays. Chick was in town visiting his lifelong friend and college roommate, Bob Williams (aka Uncle Bob), and Ann was visiting her family. Neither had dates for New Years Eve, so Uncle Bob and Ann's sister, Judy, set them up. After a successful blind date, Ann and Chick commenced a long-distance relationship between New Jersey and Boston.

Just over a year later, Chick and Ann were married in Dallas at St. Rita's parish. They were lifelong members of St. Rita's. Both were devoted to establishing the new parish in the 1960s and helping it thrive in the 1970s. Ann sang in the choir and volunteered with various parish ministries. Chick was on the finance committee and helped guide the parish through its growth in the 1970s. They were also very active in the formative years of the Shelton School.

Ann and Chick are survived by their three children Carol Martin Dobosh (John Dobosh), Matthew Charles Martin (Cecilia Ackels Martin) and Paul Browne Martin. They are also survived by nine grandchildren: Matthew Charles Martin, Jr, Ellen Isabel Martin, Theresa Ann Martin, Michael Lawrence Martin, Rachel Erin Dobosh, Christine Elizabeth Martin, William Henry Martin, Braden Charles Dobosh and Alex John Dobosh.

As a final gesture of their generosity, Chick and Ann donated their bodies to the UT Southwestern Medical School to be studied for research purposes. Chick had miraculously outlived a three-year life expectancy in the 1990s after being diagnosed with CML. Ann bravely battled Parkinson's for over 20 years. Her dedication to exercise and a healthy lifestyle enabled her to keep the debilitating effects of this illness at bay for years.

Both Ann and Chick will be greatly missed by their family and friends.

A memorial service will be held at St. Rita's Catholic Church in Dallas, Texas on June 16, 2025, at 11:00 am. A reception will be held following the mass at St. Rita.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to John Paul II High School to the Charles "Chick" Martin Scholarship Fund.