Lucien Henry "Hank" Platt Jr.

Canaan--Lucien "Hank" Henry Platt, Jr., a man with simple tastes, abiding faith in God and in humanity, and a generous heart, passed away on August 9 at Geer Nursing, his home since 2020. Born in Philadelphia on February 5, 1942, Hank moved to Litchfield, Connecticut, during his high school years and called the state home throughout his adult life.

Although he and his wife divorced when their three daughters were very young, Hank was a loving and attentive father. Weekend visits involved much more than a quick trip to get ice cream. Although time and money were often tight, Hank made the effort to take his daughters on excursions to support their learning and to spend time together outdoors. He took his girls to historical sites like Sturbridge Village or the trolley museum, and state parks like Mt. Tom or Sleeping Giant to hike, swim, and picnic. As they grew older, he provided financial support to help defray the cost of their college expenses, often taking on extra work to do so.

Hank held a deep appreciation of the power of education to improve individual lives and promote a civil society. He attended the Gunnery (now the Frederick Gunn School) a private high school in Washington, CT, followed by Lehigh University and Southern Connecticut State University. A diligent, curious student with an impressive memory, Hank memorized all the train routes across the US and would happily share the correct route to anyone traveling to a new destination. He loved words and language, delighting in everything from corny puns to the archaic phrasing of a traditional hymn (which he sung loudly and rather off-key). A colleague from Hank's years at the Henry Richards Company in New Haven recalls how they called him "The Professor" based on his prodigious vocabulary and far-ranging knowledge.

Hank was a man of steadfast--but never dogmatic--faith. He was a member of First Presbyterian Church of New Haven, but he often attended other churches as well and did not hesitate to strike up conversations with people of other faiths--not to evangelize, but to understand and learn. Although the teachings of Jesus exerted the most powerful influence on his character, he believed that a life of love, compassion, forgiveness, and generosity of spirit were universal and available to anyone who sought them. He never smoked, drank alcohol, or even swore, and his abstemious ways, as well as his unwavering moral code, earned him another of his nicknames, "Deacon," given to him by his classmates at the Gunnery. Yet he was easygoing and never judgmental toward others.

In spite of his affluent upbringing, Hank was never quite at home among the privileged set. He never cared about nice clothes or cars, country clubs, or gourmet cuisine. He did not travel, other than for his daughters' weddings, or to help them out (he once changed the starter on his daughter's car while it was broken down on a street in Brooklyn), and he also took a couple of mission trips to natural disaster sites (by train, of course). For him, a day well spent involved working with his hands to maintain the rooming house in Hamden where he lived for 40 years, providing shelter, transportation, and sometimes food from his own pantry to those who might well have been homeless otherwise.

Though his income was modest, Hank was generous with his time and money. He gave a significant portion of what he earned to the churches he attended, as well as to scores of charities. Over the course of his lifetime, he also gave countless gallons of blood, donating every 8 weeks for decades. For many years, he served as an election volunteer and was the Chapter President of AARP in Hamden in the early 2010s. At times, he even ran for local office without any hope of winning, just so that the other candidate would not run unopposed. In this context, he created his own nickname, the "Dark Horse Candidate," and even posed on top of a dark-colored horse for his official photo. To Hank, life was not a race to be won. "We do what we can" was his motto.

Hank is survived by his eldest daughter, Amanda Avallone, and son-in-law Bryce Avallone, and his youngest daughter, Liss Platt, her partner Claudia Manley, and their son, Ian Manley. Hank's second daughter, Abigail Platt, predeceased him in 1982. He is also survived by his younger brother, Richard Platt, and his husband Scott Godsen. Edith Milton, Hank's ex-wife and the mother of his children, also survives him.

A memorial service will be held at First Presbyterian Church in New Haven in September. In celebration of Hank, his kindness, and his concern for children living with serious illnesses, friends are invited to make a donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, one of his favorite charities. (stjude.org/donate)