Charles Bragdon Stone Jr.

Charles B. Stone, Jr., a Wesleyan University scholar-athlete who racked up a lifetime of awards for civic leadership, died in his birthplace of Middletown, CT, on October 15, 2025. He was 97. Wesleyan University, The Independent Day School, Middlesex Health, Middlesex YMCA, and The United Way of Middlesex County are among the beneficiaries of Stone's celebrated leadership skills. "Chip" Stone's community-building and fund-raising projects often exceeded their goals. In a 1990 campaign he chaired for Middlesex Health, Stone flexed his trademark wit and grit to deliver a $4.5 million infusion for expansion and later helped bring in $10 million to build a new cancer center. MH President Vincent Capece recalls, "Chip was a gentleman who will be remembered for his grace, dry humor, and dedication to helping others." Stone graduated from Harvard Business School in 1951. After two years at General Electric, he devoted the bulk of his professional career to working side-by-side with his father at the oil heating company he had founded in Middletown in 1931. Father and son expanded C.B. Stone, Inc. into wholesale distribution of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning services. Only son of Thyra Jacobson Stone and Charles Bragdon Stone, he adopted the work ethic that grounded their family business through The Depression. Chip trained his employees on tips from Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People". That 1937 best seller read like a book he could have written himself. By 1979, Wesleyan University had recognized Stone as a "Distinguished Alumnus" for outstanding achievement and service, also as a chip off "the old block", his father, who had received the same tribute the year before. Chip had chaired Wesleyan's Alumni Association and countless fundraising campaigns. In his words, "Pop was my role model, and I was his clone." Stone also stayed busy nearby in Middlefield, serving as the first treasurer of The Independent Day School, while chairing its building fund campaign. The best thing he ever did, Stone said, was to marry Joan Appleton, a Wellesley College graduate who became his wife of 71 years. Stone showered the people he loved with love, and advice. "Don't fret it major if it's minor", "Take the high road", and "Don't let 'em get your goat", he urged them. One favorite Stoneism was, "When life kicks you in the rear, make sure it propels you forward". A major back injury in his Woodrow Wilson High School sophomore year benched his plans to star as starting pitcher. Instead, he tackled swimming, track, discus, and shot put. Results included his rise to state champion in the discus event, and a medley of college freestyle swimming records. Sports played a key role throughout Stone's life, long after 2006 when he had made it into The Middletown Sports Hall of Fame. In Madison, CT, in his senior years, he became an active spectator at his grandchildren's athletic events, booming out his familiar refrain, "You can DO it!". Throughout his life, Stone kept singing, first as soprano choir boy in Middletown's Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, with a salary: 25 cents a week. Later, singing bass, he performed with Wesleyan's Cardinal Puffs, and Harvard Business School's Tycoons. For nearly forty years, he did gigs with three Yale Whiffenpoofs. This led to Stone's retroactive induction as a 1953 Whiff, and his official new moniker, "Rolling" Stone. Their quartet, The Long Island Sound, came together in Madison, where Stone spent his summers. In recent years, when he lived at Essex Meadows, a chief highlight of his life was blending his resonant bass voice with his final foursome, The Bokum Boys. Writer of many songs, speech, toast, and roast, Stone remained a lifelong, inspirational wordsmith. To a newborn great-grandson and namesake, he wrote, "May you enjoy a life that is long, healthy, productive, successful, honorable, and full of love – and DON'T COAST". This life mirrored his own. He is pre-deceased by his wife, Joan Stone. He leaves his children Susan Moorhead (Stephen), Sarah Maynard (Reed Bergwall), Charles Stone (Diane) and Jennifer Potter (Jeffrey); grandchildren Elizabeth Chiu (Jerome), Nicholas Moorhead, Samuel Moorhead (Allie), Frederick Maynard (Julia), Henry Moorhead (Allison), Nathaniel Maynard, William Potter (Rosie), Hannah Stone, Alex Potter (Hannah), Berkley Stone, and Eliza Potter; and great-grandchildren Eleanor, Hudson, and Anna Chiu; Charles and Theodore Moorhead; and George Maynard. A celebration of his life will be held at the Madison Beach Club on Saturday, June 13, 2026, at 2:30 PM. If interested in making a contribution in his memory, please consider giving in the name of Charles B. Stone Jr. to Middlesex Health or Wesleyan University. Middlesex Health, Office of Philanthropy, 28 Crescent Street, Middletown, CT 06457 or online at middlesexhealth.org/donate to benefit patient care. Please make checks payable to Wesleyan University and mail to: Wesleyan University Office of Advancement 55 High Street Middletown, CT 06457, or donate online at wesleyan.edu/giving. To share memories or send condolences to the family, please visit www.doolittlefuneralservice.com. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Charles Bragdon Stone, Jr., please visit our floral store.