Nathan Foley-Mendelssohn

1979 - 2013

Nathan Foley-Mendelssohn
Sept. 21, l979-Sept. 10, 2013
Resident of Cambridge, Mass
Nathan Foley-Mendelssohn, 33, born in Honolulu, Hawaii, a resident of Santa Cruz from 1980 to 2001 and of Cambridge, Boston, and Baltimore from 2002 to 2013, passed away while hiking Landmannalaugar to Hrafntinnusker in Iceland.
Nathan attended Gateway School, York High School in Monterey, and Harvard College, where he earned a B.A. with honors in History and International Relations. At Harvard, he was a resident of Cabot House and forged lifelong friendships. During college Nathan worked summers for "Let's Go", writing and editing travel guidebooks. After graduation he worked at the Pacific Environmental Fisheries Group in Pacific Grove, CA, then moved to Boston where he joined Boston Common Asset Management, where he worked until his death. Nathan became a Chartered Financial Analyst and conducted fundamental investment research in the energy sector, built quantitative and analytical investment tools, and oversaw the implementation of fixed income strategies. He was interested in the developing areas of big data and planning start-ups that might tap his skills in data mining and using the web to educate on financial and investment strategies.
Nathan traveled extensively to Indonesia, Europe, the Caribbean, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tibetan areas of China, New Zealand, and Australia. At the time of his death he was on an extended trip with plans to continue from Iceland to Greece and Laos. He participated in soccer and other sports from youth. He loved playing classical music on the piano.
Nathan is survived by his parents Roy Mendelssohn and Kathy Foley of Santa Cruz, California, and his sister Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn of New York; his uncles and aunts Marvin and Ellen Mendelssohn of Medford, Massachusetts; Helen McNeill of Washington, D.C.; Joe and Pam Foley of Temecula, California; Jane and Jack Hastie of Upper Arlington, Ohio; James and Jeannie Foley of Chicago, Illinois; twelve cousins and their offspring. Grace Chan, now of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts was his companion and friend for over a decade. She, along with his college roommate Jonathan Burton-Macleod of St. Augustine, Florida, helped in the search for his body following his disappearance.
He walked from us with his eyes lifted to the mountains.
A celebration of his life will be held at Cabot House, Radcliffe Quad, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts on Sat., January 4, 2014 from 1:30-5 PM. Donations can go to the rescue team (http://www.sareye.com) that searched for him:
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Iceland
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