Born in Boston, MA, on September 21, 1926, Oakes grew up in Cambridge, where he attended the Buckingham School through fifth grade, followed by three years at Belmont Hill School, before entering Milton Academy in Milton, MA, in the ninth grade. He matriculated in 1943 at Harvard College, where he sang in the Glee Club, served as Circulation Manager for the Harvard Lampoon, and worked at the pool in Harvard’s Indoor Athletic Building as a monitor and taught Navy personnel how to swim and perform lifesaving.
Oakes’ college years were interrupted in June 1944 when he enlisted in the Army Air Force training program on what turned out to be D-Day. Following three months of basic training in Biloxi, MS, in April 1945 he was stationed at Luke Field in Glendale, AZ, where he spent seven months working as a control tower operator. In November 1945, he was discharged with the rank of corporal and returned to Harvard in February 1946.
After graduating in 1947, Oakes enrolled at the Harvard Business School and received his M.B.A. with distinction in 1949. With a desire to work at a manufacturing company, he joined the Technical Training Program at the Corning Glass Works, in Corning, NY. His first official assignment was as a shift foreman for TV bulb sealing at the Pressware plant, and during those first two years in Corning, Oakes met a number of people who became close, lifelong friends.
In October 1951, Oakes was named the head of the Production Control Department at a new plant just built in Danville, KY. It was during his stint there that Oakes went on a blind date and met his future wife, Dorothy Anne Cooper, who worked in the chemistry department at Centre College. They married in April 1952 and welcomed the arrival of three children, before Oakes was transferred back to Corning, NY, in the fall of 1955.
Given the assignment of preparing the request to build a new plant for sealed beam headlight glass, in the summer of 1956 Oakes was formally offered the position of Plant Manager for the new facility being constructed in Greenville, OH. Two years later, Corning transferred Oakes to Albion, MI, to run the plant there, which made television picture tubes. The summer of 1962 found the Ames family packing once again, this time for a return to Corning.
In retrospect, Oakes considered the years he spent in Danville, Greenville, and Albion the most rewarding of his business career, although he often didn’t think so at the time. As he wrote later, “By and large, these years were successful, and a branch plant manager had considerable freedom, especially when the operations were running well. The measure of results came hourly, daily, monthly, and yearly. You knew how you were doing and were in control of many of the variables.”
In the years following his return to Corning, NY, Oakes served in a variety of roles in several different company divisions, including as vice president and general manager of the television products division and vice president and controller of the Corning Glass Works.
In 1977, following difficult financial times, Corning tapped Oakes to turn around their business in Great Britain, which was running in the red. This marked a change in the kind of executive the company sent to run overseas subsidiaries. Instead of diplomatic types, fluent in foreign languages and strong in social graces, the company sent what Forbes magazine described as “the most hard-driving, bottom-line-oriented SOBs” they could find, including “troubleshooter” Oakes Ames.
During his four-year tenure as President of Corning Ltd., which was based in Sunderland in the northeast of England, Oakes and Dorothy found time to travel and especially enjoyed hiking in England and Scotland and skiing in Europe.
When he returned to the United States and Corning, NY, in July 1981, Oakes joined the venture capital world. With startup investment funding provided by Corning Inc., he and two other Corning executives founded Fairfield Venture Partners, locating the business in Stamford, CT. A move from Corning to New Canaan, CT, quickly followed.
When he finally retired, Oakes enjoyed volunteering for the New Canaan Public Library, working with students on reading and math in the New Canaan elementary school, and participating in a men’s book group and an investment group. He and Dorothy traveled extensively, and he considered their expedition to Antarctica to be the highlight of his journeys.
Following the death of his wife in 2010, Oakes moved to Meadow Ridge, a senior living community in Redding, CT. There he was blessed with a new set of friends and enjoyed weekly poker and bridge games, serving on the movie committee, singing, acting in “radio” plays, and participating in outings to museums, the theater, and the Ridgefield Symphony.
Oakes Ames is survived by three children: Oakes Ingalls Ames II and his wife, Joanne, of Prescott, AZ; Anne Ames Boudreau and her husband, Regis, of Carlisle, MA; and Pennel Cooper Ames and his wife Sharon, of Nantucket, MA. He also had five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Donations in memory of Oakes may be made to the Meadow Ridge Scholarship Fund, which supports employees of Meadow Ridge in furthering their education. Checks should be mailed to the attention of the treasurer: Katherine Chann, 3277 Meadow Ridge, Redding, CT 06896.
Burial at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA, will be private.
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