Winston Singleton Sharples Jr.

1932 - 2021
Winston Singleton Sharples Jr., 88, passed away peacefully on July 7th in Marion, Massachusetts, leaving behind a large extended family and many others who were touched by his humor, wisdom, curiosity, affinity for the underdog and tremendous capacity for love.

Win was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to the late Winston Sharples Sr. and Daisy Sharples, nee Shackley. His father was a composer known for his work on animated short and cartoon scores such as Felix the Cat and Popeye the Sailor and his mother worked as a singer at WBZ Radio. After Daisy's death in 1937, Win and his sister Daisy grew up in Agawam with their father and grandparents, William and Mary Sharples, their stepmother Carmela, nee Parrino, and brother Michael. They lived in Coral Gables, Florida while his father worked as music director at Fleischer Studios, part of Paramount Pictures. At Agawam High School, he played on the football team, was an ace sports reporter for the school paper, and was a member of the Camera Club and several musical groups. Rising to Eagle Scout in high school, he went on to advise future generations of Boy Scouts. He attended Harvard College, where he studied Social Relations, played football and lacrosse, and was a member of the Harvard Lampoon. After graduation, Win enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving as a medic in Munich and directing plays in the Special Services.

After completing graduate studies in theatre at Yale and Carnegie Mellon, Win settled in New York City, where he ran the post-production facility SynchroSound with his father. The father-son pair worked on hundreds of cartoons during this period and Win served as musical director on The Mighty Hercules. Living for a decade in Dobbs Ferry, New York, he taught film production and history at Lehman College and co-wrote the textbook A Primer for Film-Making.

Win then served as the archivist at the American Film Institute in Washington, D.C. and continued to teach film at Howard University and Northern Virginia Community College. In the late 1980s, Win turned a lifelong passion for Morgan sports cars into a business selling and restoring the venerable British cars. Cantab Motors was the only east coast distributor of Morgans for over a decade and provided restoration work for Morgan and Land Rover vehicles.

A natural teacher, Win loved sharing his knowledge with everyone in his life about his interests. His vast library was filled with books, all heavily highlighted and filled with voluminous notes, on the topics he had a passion for: film, Darwin, Freud, the Arts & Crafts movement, horticulture, geology, birds, African art, military aviation, and British royalty.

Win leaves behind his beloved wife of 40 years Ruth Lissak Sharples, his brother Michael Sharples, his son John William Sharples, his daughters Hadley Sharples Berkowitz and Gillian Sharples Bonacci, his daughter-in-law Erica Smith, his sons-in-law Richard Berkowitz and Albe Bonacci, his grandchildren Hannah Berkowitz, Madeleine Berkowitz, Claire Berkowitz, Daisy Bonacci, and John MacKenzie Sharples, as well as five nieces and a nephew.