Harold “Hal” A. Chase Jr., 82, long-time resident of Greenwich, died peacefully on Feb. 16, 2015, surrounded by family at home in Norwalk, after a valiant, 18-year battle with Parkinson’s. Born in Colorado Springs on July 17, 1932, he grew up in Los Angeles.
Hal graduated from Yale College in 1954 with a B.A. in history and later received an MBA from NYU. From 1956 to 1959, Hal served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and later in the Naval Reserves. He had a 25-year career with Chase Manhattan Bank before he and his wife, Julie, acquired Kidsbooks, a school bookfair company, which they operated as a family business for 15 years.
Married to Julie for 51 years, he was the proud father of Carrie, Christy, Stephen, Douglas, and Susannah, who predeceased him in 1997. He is also survived by sons-in-law Paul Reynolds and Geoffrey Greene and daughters-in-law Kelly McCaffrey Chase and Nicole Schneider Chase, as well as his 10 grandchildren — Casey, James, Ryan, Delaney, Anna, Stephen, Matt, Piper, Kate and Kelsey.
Hal approached life with honor, integrity and self-discipline. He believed in service to his community, as evidenced by his years of leadership in Greenwich for the Boy Scouts, on the RTM, and as president of the PTA Council. His unwavering dedication to his family included cheering on his children, and later his grandchildren, at countless concerts and sporting events, tackling any and all home-improvement projects, and entertaining his family with pithy observations. Other loves included opera, American history, hardware stores, walks in the woods, and running — he ran the NYC Marathon at age 49 and dedicated himself to the success of Susannah’s Run, held in memory of his youngest daughter.
A memorial service will be held in the spring. In lieu of flowers, friends may make donations to the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson’s: davisphinneyfoundation.org.