John Dearborn Chadwick

April 12, 1939 - August 5, 2025

John Dearborn Chadwick, a longtime resident of Greenwich, Connecticut, passed away amongst family on August 5, at Yale New Haven Hospital, after a short illness. He was 86 years old.

To the outside world, John was recognized as remarkably successful in the investment arena with a long-term winning record as a growth stock portfolio manager. That was but one facet of the man—among his family and countless friends, he was also admired for his passions as a sailor, gardener, military historian, writer, painter of watercolors, civic volunteer and as a raconteur.

But above all else, John was a devoted father, grandfather, husband, brother and friend. He was exceptionally attentive to his family; they were the center of his universe. The father of five children, born over a span of thirty years, he relished sharing his encyclopedic knowledge with them. With his older three children, he was the ever-present Little League coach on Thursday evenings. And then years later, when he was in his sixties, he had a second go-round coaching for his two youngest.  He cherished travelling the world with all his children together. When he turned 75, he whimsically noted, “I’m the only person I know who has had his children living under his roof for a consecutive fifty years.” More recently, he raised that number to sixty.

While John’s renowned humor was wry and intelligent, it could also be—infrequently though memorably—quite ribald. Yet, he was known much more for his quiet elegance—his bearing was gracefully poised, his manner proper but gentle. His wisdom and compassion revealed an inspiring seriousness of purpose. Not mere gravity or dull solemnity. Rather an exacting and helpful intellectual depth with interests that could be wide-ranging and sometimes quite surprising. He loved nothing more than to be in the company of a small coterie of friends—curious as he was, and always up for an evening of both seriousness and joviality. 

John’s avocations became his passion after he retired from the world of investing. Years earlier, when he was dating his wife, Patricia, he shared with her his dream. “When I retire, I’m going to go back to watercolor painting which I loved at St. Albans.” He was true to his word and passion. Even before retiring, he took watercolor classes and reveled in being the only man in the class. For the last twenty-six years of his life, he designed and painted the cover image of the family Christmas card. His other interests included stamp collecting—a lost art—collecting wine, and gardening. He was especially proud to have received an award for “the best small garden in Greenwich” from the Greenwich Garden Club.

In his last decade, after he and Patricia joined a writers’ club (for her enjoyment), he himself took up writing, and could be found for hours at a time at his computer satisfying his writer’s itch. As recently as a couple of months ago, he was scribbling down ideas for his next short story in the middle of the night. He became the best editor for Patricia’s writing and was always her most enthusiastic fan. 

John was born in Atlanta Georgia on April 12, 1939, to Elizabeth Finlay and John Chadwick. His sister, Vaughn, was three years his junior. When John was five years old, the family moved to Bethesda, Maryland, where his father, a reporter for the Associated Press (AP), was assigned to cover Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court. John enjoyed telling of accompanying his father when he knocked on the front door of their neighbor, then Vice President Richard Nixon, who opened the door himself. John played with Checkers, the Nixons’ dog, while his father interviewed the Vice President. He also recounted that in the mid-1960s, President Lyndon Johnson blamed the elder Mr. Chadwick for the heart attack he suffered after being questioned intensely.

In the fourth grade John met Chuck Royce, who would become his life-long friend. The boys had countless adventures together throughout their childhoods, at college and at graduate school. Both men moved to New York and entered the world of investing. John moved his family to Greenwich in 1968, and Chuck followed within a year. Some thirty years later, John followed Chuck to Watch Hill, Rhode Island. Each relished telling stories about the other’s antics over their long and enviable friendship.

John attended St. Albans School at the National Cathedral for his high school years, graduating with the class of ‘57. The headmaster during his time there was Canon Charles S. Martin, a man whom John credited with giving him his lifelong love of learning, and whom he hailed as his mentor. In his later years, John gave generously to the school he loved.

Among John’s favorite childhood memories were his trips to his family’s ancestral home in Chattanooga, Tennessee, his family vacations on Wrightsville Beach and his summers at Camp Greenbriar and Camp Carolina.

At Harvard College, he was president of The Speakers’ Club and an avid track and field athlete. He majored in Economics and graduated with the class of ‘61. A summer in Europe with his St. Albans and Harvard roommate, Walter Hanes, gave him the great pleasure of enjoying Berlin only days before The Wall shut off the city.

Upon receiving his MBA from Wharton, class of ‘63, John entered the world of investing in New York City. For the next forty-plus years, he made his reputation as a growth equity manager, his career culminating with his last decade at Bessemer Trust, where he was a Managing Director.

John remained an active investment professional in retirement, as the volunteer head of the Investment Committee for the town of Greenwich Police and Firemen’s Pension Fund. Over a twelve-year period, he catapulted the returns to the top percentile.

John relished the company of his friends and enjoyed his membership in the Misquamicut Club in Watch Hill, the University Club in New York, The Field Club and the Horseneck Club in Greenwich.  As an avid sailor and member of the Riverside Yacht Club, he never missed a Thursday evening Vespers race. On his 86thbirthday, he enjoyed being welcomed into Honorary Membership at the club, after he reached the magic number of 135—a combination of his age and his years of membership. He was particularly delighted that the honor came with the waiving of annual dues. In the summer at Watch Hill, his favorite pastimes were sitting on East Beach with a book and bodysurfing in the rough waves.

In his last few years, John was happy to have his children still so much in his life. He saw COVID through the lens of having a pod of three that included his son, Jim. When the pandemic receded, he was blessed with constant support from his daughter, Caroline, and her husband who moved back to Connecticut. 

John is survived by his wife of 40 years, the former Patricia Walsh, and their two children Caroline (John Howell) and James (fiancée Anna), and by his three children with his first wife, Nancy Albracht, John Lyne (Tear), Liz, and Paul (Ellie), as well as seven grandchildren (Harold, Benjamin, John, Laila, Kate, Jessica, Finlay) and his sister, and lifelong confidante, Vaughn, and her daughter, Catherine. He was pre-deceased by his parents Elizabeth and John.

Funeral arrangements will be provided by Fred D. Knapp in Greenwich. The burial will be private at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. A Celebration of Life service will be held at Christ Church Greenwich on Saturday, November 1, 2025, at 2pm.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.)stalbansschool.org/giving and Anchor Health, anchorhealthct.org/donate/ the LGBTQ medical clinic that means so much to Patricia and Caroline, and which he supported from its inception.