Michael C. Carter

Michael Chandler Carter passed away peacefully after a short illness on February 18. Born on December 17, 1927, in New York City, son of Phillip Percival Carter and Muriel Bell Carter, Michael grew up in West Orange, New Jersey and Hanover, New Hampshire.

He graduated in May 1945 from Saint Mark’s School in Southborough Massachusetts, where he made many of his firmest friendships. At age 17, after obtaining parental dispensation, he immediately enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and was sent as part of the invasion force to Japan. After Japan’s surrender, he served in both China and Japan, spending time in Tianjin, Beijing, and Sasebo. He was called up for a second tour in the Marines during the Korean War, though he did not see active duty.

Following World War II, Michael attended Williams College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in English literature in 1950. He began his career as a stockbroker in Boston.

Later, he became an expat in Europe when he was hired by an American brokerage firm in Milan, Italy. He then moved to Brussels, Belgium where he covered the emergence of the European Economic Community as a reporter for the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company. He was subsequently hired by Commerce Clearing House to deepen their reporting on the European market. He led European operations for CCH until 1980, when he returned to the United States and took over the government division, retiring in 1989.

Guided by his grandfather, who was a minister in the Episcopalian Church, Michael remained a man of faith throughout his life, participating in the church communities in all the cities and towns he lived in. Michael was a keen sportsman, competing in ice hockey, lacrosse, and rowing at Saint Mark’s. He enjoyed skiing, tennis, golf, mountaineering, and fly fishing as an adult. He instilled a lifelong love for the outdoors and the mountains in his children and grandchildren. Michael formed firm friendships with a wide range of people across the world; his warm nature, inclusiveness, and natural curiosity brought many close to him. After he retired, his love for nature and the outdoors led him to active participation in the Harris Center for Conservation Education, the Monadnock Conservancy and the Dublin Riding and Walking Club, serving as President of the latter for seven years. He was also a longtime supporter of Historic Harrisville.

Michael was an avid reader of history, poetry, and Jane Austen, and he greatly enjoyed the arts, involving his family in explorations of many museums, churches, concerts, and operas across Europe and the U.S. He and his family first lived in Dedham, Massachusetts, followed by stops in Alexandria (Virginia), Milan (Italy), Brussels (Belgium), Paris (France), London (England), Washington D.C. They finally settled in Chesham, New Hampshire but enjoyed visiting family and friends across the world.

A lover of music, especially 1930s and 1940s tunes, for which he had a prodigious memory, he often regaled friends and family with faithfully sung renditions. A connoisseur of fine wines and a gourmet, he was a member of the Commanderie de Bordeaux in Washington; he enjoyed discovering fine food and restaurants everywhere he visited and developed a deft hand cooking at home as well.

Michael married Lillian Russell Carter on August 27, 1949, in Dublin, New Hampshire, where they had met as children, celebrating their 76th wedding anniversary last year. When someone expressed amazement that he had been married over seventy years to the same woman, he replied mischievously, “Ahh, but it’s not the same woman.”

They had four children: Tabitha, Margaret, Michael, and James. They had six grandchildren (Matthew, Vivian, William, Caroline, Georgia, and Alexander), and one great grandchild (Hazel). Michael had one brother, Nicholas Carter, now deceased, and he is survived by his younger sister, Alice Carter. He is much loved and sorely missed.

The Memorial Service will be at Emmanuel Church in Dublin, New Hampshire on July 18, two days after his burial at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.