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The End of an Era
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Business New Haven
2/18/2002
By: BNH
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Maybe it's fitting that Charles N. (Newt) Schenck III passed away on Valentine's Day following a lengthy illness. Certainly no one ever questioned the size of his heart.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., graduate of Yale College, Wiggin & Dana partner and civic pillar, Schenck captained a broad array of community initiatives, from Long Wharf Theatre [whose Main Stage bears his name] and the Audubon arts district to the proprietorship of the New Haven Green and the restoration of the Shubert Performing Arts Center. He was 79.
Schenck also served on the boards of the Town Green Special Services District, the Yale-New Haven Hospital Health Services Corp., the New Haven Colony Historical Society, the Connecticut United Way, the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, Friends of the New Haven Free Public Library and a host of other causes literally too plentiful and enumerate.
As a member of Tom Brokaw's “greatest generation,” he served his country faithfully as a soldier in the U.S. Army during both World War II (where he was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944) and during the Korean conflict during 1952.
The following year, he returned to the New Haven of his college years and joined Wiggin & Dana as an associate. Four years later, he made partner.
Shortly thereafter he began a long and distinguished career of public service during the administration of Mayor Richard C. Lee, chairing the Housing Authority of New Haven for three years in the early 1960s and later serving four years chairing the city's Board of Education.
Yet it was in the realm of artistic endeavor that Schenck penned his most indelible legacy. As founding chairman of Long Wharf Theatre he nurtured that organization through its first quarter-century. Even in his last years, LWT's chairman emeritus was a force to be reckoned with: According to current LWT chairwomen Barbara L. Pearce, Schenck raised $100,000 from his hospital bed. BNH
A memorial service will take place at the Church of the Redeemer, 185 Cold Spring Street, New Haven, February 26 at 11 a.m.
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