CHRISTOPHER GARDELLA

GARDELLA, Christopher On September 13, 2021, Christopher Shinn Gardella, loving father of Katerina Danielle Gardella, passed away at the age of 68 in Oxnard, California. Chris was born on March 24, 1953, in Boston, Massachusetts to Elena (Shinn) and Joseph Warren Gardella, MD. He was raised in Weston, Massachusetts, and attended Phillips Academy, Andover, and Oberlin College. He began his esteemed 44-year career in the produce industry in 1977, in Philadelphia, and then in California. His work spanned the globe and often took him to Chile. Chris had an unrelenting passion for sailing and the ocean, particularly navigating the east coast waters from Cape Cod to Maine, where he spent most of his youth. More recently, he enjoyed sailing his Hinckley Sou'wester in the waters of Southern California, making weekend jaunts to the Channel Islands. He was an accomplished drummer in his youth and at Oberlin. He will be remembered for his bigger-than-life personality, his blue eyes and infectious smile, and most of all his kind and loving heart. He was preceded in death by his parents and is survived by his loving daughter Katerina, the love of his life, and his siblings, David, Joanne, Jonathan, and Amelie, two nieces, three nephews, and five great-nieces and nephews. The Memorial Service will take place on Friday, October 22, 2021, at 2:00 pm at the First Parish Church, 349 Boston Post Road, Weston, MA. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his memory to "The Elena and Joseph Gardella Memorial Fund 021527" at Massachusetts General Hospital, supporting the Winickoff Scholars for primary care physicians. Gifts can be made online at giving.massgeneral.org or by check payable to "Mass General Hospital" and mailed to MGH Development Office, C/O Patrick Rooney/Gardella Family, 125 Nashua Street, Boston, MA 02114.

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