Nathan Tufts Jr.

1930 - 2021

Nathan Tufts Jr.

Northfield, MA —

Nathan Tufts, Jr. died on December 1, 2021 at his home one of the state's earliest registered tree farms in Northfield, Massachusetts. He was 91. Nate grew up in Greenfield where he recalled fondly being able to ride his go-cart from the top of Main Street downhill to the Fire Station. He attended the Bement School and Deerfield Academy before leaving home to study at Yale University.

During the Korean war, Nate attended Officer Candidate school in Newport, R.I. and graduated as an Ensign, USNR. After attending Mine Warfare School in Virginia, he was attached to the USS Jeffers (DMS 27), a Destroyer Mine Sweeper, serving on three tours in the Mediterranean. After serving three years at sea out of Charleston, S.C., he was transferred to the Fleet Training Center in Newport, R.I. where he taught "Emergency Ship Handling", a course for enlisted men and senior officers.

Lifelong environmentalists, Nate and his wife, Rosalind, founded the Merrimack River Watershed Council in 1976, initiating a successful public/private collaboration to revive and restore the river. In 1988, the Tufts were honored by the United Nations Environmental Programme for "unique and significant contributions to Environmental Restoration and Sustainability." He started his own business, Agresource, Inc., in 1986, a regional composting company on the North Shore of Boston, turning non-toxic municipal sludge into useful soil supplements. After moving back to the Pioneer Valley in 2003, Nate continued his environmental work as a founding member of the Bennett Brook Watershed Association (now the Greater Northfield Watershed Association) and as a long time Director and Officer of Timber Owners of New England, Inc., a 3000 acre timber holding in Southern New Hampshire.

Nate was an outdoorsman who was always eager for adventure, whether on a trek in the Himalayas or hiking in the White Mountains. He was an avid and competitive skier, organizing Yale's first recognized ski team and winning a National collegiate downhill and slalom race at Aspen, Colorado where the "uncoached and ill-equipped" team competed in 1950. A great believer in the tenet that "a life lived without risk is not worth living," Nate pursued his love of the sea, sailing numerous vessels that, more often than not, did not have reliable engines…and took to the air flying an amphibious ultra-light aircraft, surviving many death-defying take-offs from his pond (and two crash landings.) He also spent many wonderful hours bird hunting for grouse and pheasant with his beloved dogs.

Nathan was an artist, expressing himself through poetry and writing, creative pottery, and fanciful mobiles from driftwood and other flotsam collected on the beach. Among his greatest joys were the opportunity to host an annual Haiku Circle in Northfield and his service on the Board of Music in Deerfield sponsoring chamber music in the Pioneer Valley.

Nate is survived by his devoted wife of 69 years, four daughters and sons in law (Jennifer Tufts and Gary Rucker of Northfield, MA, Grace and Scott Buchanan of Burke, VA, Nina and David Seidman of N. Tustin, CA, Andrea and Al Franklin of Guilford, VT), ten grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren. A celebration of life will be held at Nathan's home church, Second Congregational Church in Greenfield, MA, on Monday December 27th at 11 am.

Kidder Funeral Home, 1 Parker Ave. Nortfield, Ma. Is in charge of arrangements.

To send condolences please visit www.kidderfuneralhome.com.