Anthony Barrett Neidecker

Dublin, Ohio - A funeral service to celebrate the life of Anthony (Tony) Barrett Neidecker, who passed away at the age of 97, on Tuesday, January 14, 2020, will be held at Saint Brigid of Kildare Catholic Church in Dublin, Ohio on Saturday, January 25th at 10:00 a.m. Tony was born in Brooklyn, New York in, 1922. He grew up in Paris, France, where as a young boy he watched the parade celebrating Charles A. Lindbergh's landing of his Spirit of St. Louis monoplane, in 1927. At the age of 7, Tony and his younger brother Peter attended boarding school in England until he was injured in an explosion on his family boat. He and his family moved to New York City in 1935 and he attended the Allen Stevenson School. He went on to Exeter and Harvard University and graduated from the Harvard Business School in 1949. After graduation, he moved to Portland, Oregon, where he joined a local outdoor hiking group, the Mazamas where he met his vivacious wife, Ann Hutchinson, while climbing Mount Hood. They were married in 1952 and had six children. In 1960, Tony was hired to start John Deere's European operations at their headquarters outside of Paris, France where he lived until 1965. He returned to the United States with his wife and six children on an adventurous boat trip on the Christoforo Columbo, the Italian ocean liner. Tony joined Chase Manhattan Bank where he worked for the next 22 years, commuting daily to Wall Street by bicycle and train. From 1973 to 1977, Chase Manhattan bank sent Tony to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he established a lending portfolio system; it was a time when Saudi Arabia was rapidly industrializing with new emerging markets. Tony was a polyglot, speaking fluent French, Spanish, German, Arabic, Russian and English, with an in-depth knowledge of the history of the Middle East. He was a true diplomat and dedicated much time to learning the history of every country where he lived. As a family man, Tony's spare time was dedicated to his wife and children. Each autumn he invited neighborhood children to well-planned leaf-raking "block parties". He was an environmental activist, working on numerous committees to prevent local developers from destroying a nearby watershed; he galvanized the town to compost organic waste in the early 1970's. He was passionate about the outdoors, hiking the mountains of New Hampshire in the summers, skiing every winter, which he continued to do until the age of 87 by exercising daily at the gym until one month before his passing. Tony was active in politics and dictated letters to his children for them to send to his Congressional representatives to bring attention to pressing issues of the day. Following retirement in the late 1980's, he traveled to Russia to teach finance. He later taught a class on Middle East Peace at the Institute for Lifelong Learning at Dartmouth College. Both he and his wife had a zest for entertaining and they frequently opened their home to foreign exchange students, friends and acquaintances, creating a milieu of an energetic exchange of ideas and jovial conversation. In addition, Tony found time to involve himself in local groups. He served on the Historical Society in Windsor, Vermont and mentored under-resourced youth. Most importantly, Tony was a devout Christian and a convert to Catholicism in college; his faith was central to his life. Tony believed in the power of the Holy Spirit, which guided every decision he made and up until the final moments of his passing, Tony prayed the Rosary with his "Prayer Buddy" on Alexa or with his son, Tom! Tony's deep bellowing laughter, quick wit and compassionate spirit will be missed by all. He is survived by his six children and fourteen grandchildren. In his memory, Tony would want his family and friends to dedicate their time and energy to environmental awareness and activism; his favorite book on this topic was Rachel Carson's, Silent Spring, and for us to attempt to live a "zero waste" life to reduce the detrimental impacts on our planet earth; his current recommended book is 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste by Kathyrn Kellog. You can also make a donation in Anthony Neidecker's name to the Environmental Defense Fund at www.edf.org.