Fred Pillsbury Carleton
Fred P. Carleton Jr, 84, died peacefully Sunday, Aug. 23. 2015, surrounded by his family at Kendal of Hanover.
He was a longtime resident of the Upper Valley with family roots going back to Henry G. Carleton in early 1800s Newport. He was born in Minneapolis, Minn. in 1930 where he grew up with four siblings, Frank, John, Joe and a sister, Anne Carleton Procter, all of whom are now deceased. Although the family grew up in Minneapolis, Hinsdale, Ill. and Denver, Colo., they always returned to River Falls, Wis. for summers at the family farm.
Fred came back East for his high school years to Kimball Union Academy and graduated in 1948. He stayed on to become a beloved member of the Dartmouth class of 1953, was a graduate of Amos Tuck School of Business in 1954, and completed post-graduate studies at MIT.
He served with the army as an accountant stationed in Japan, and for the next two decades worked in the computer industry with IBM, Honeywell, and Litton Industries.
In 1964 he moved from San Francisco to the New York area where he was a partner with Dartmouth classmates in Computer Property Corp. In 1974 he became a partner in the Greenwich Investment Co., which specialized in brokering small businesses, matching buyers and sellers, and securing venture capital. As luck would have it, one of these businesses was the K-Ross Building Supply Co. of Lebanon, N.H. which he bought in 1976. He sold it to Barker Steel in 1985 and stayed on as president before retiring in the early 1990s.
Fred was a good athlete and excelled in tennis and skiing until diagnosed in 1978 with multiple sclerosis and stenosis. He was never one to complain and met this particular challenge with his usual unflagging optimism and determination to enjoy Life each and every day. He particularly relished going to Aspen every winter with the Dartmouth Has-beens.
Fred will be remembered for his genial demeanor, his quick wit and quirky sense of humor. He made friends easily and he kept them. He loved his work and was ethical in both his business and personal life. Fred was active in his community, an honored member and friend of the Lebanon Rotary, and devoted member of the Norwich Congregational Church.
He is survived by his second wife Mitzi Carleton whom he married in 1997 on Isle au Haut, Maine where he and Mitzi happily summered for many years with friends and visits from her five children, their spouses and 15 grandchildren.
He is survived as well by his former wife, Mollie Carleton of Etna, his daughter, Meg Carleton of Etna, his son, Ted Carleton and wife, Sabrina, and his granddaughters, Belle and Margaux of Mammoth Lakes, Calif.
A celebration of Fred’s life will be held on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 12 noon at the Congregational Church in Norwich, followed by a reception in the parish hall adjoining the sanctuary.
