Charles Louis Hildreth passed away peacefully surrounded by family on March 19, 2024. Our hearts are heavy with the passing of our wonderful husband, father, brother, uncle, grandfather and friend.
Charles Hildreth, 91, passed away on March 19. A celebration of his life will take place on April 27.
Charlie was born on Nov. 10, 1932 in Southampton, New York, where he was raised. He enjoyed working at the family store, E. A. & H. Hildreth Inc. Department Store, during his summers. The store is America’s oldest continuously run department store, established in 1842.
Charlie attended Cornell University for his undergraduate degree. Following graduation, Charlie was drafted into the Army, where he was trained in the use of Morse Code for a period at Fort Devens in Massachusetts and was then stationed in Germany. He enjoyed traveling around Europe during his two years of service.
At the end of his enlistment, Charlie attended the Wharton School of Business on the G.I. Bill, where he received his MBA in marketing. Charlie worked for many years at General Foods as a market research director before finishing his career by starting his own business called the Noroton Consulting Group alongside his wife Jane.
Charlie is predeceased by his wife Jane Mullen Weber Hildreth. They were married for 42 years before her death in 2022. Charlie and Jane enjoyed many adventurous years together in Darien.
They were avid sailors and enjoyed many years as members of the Norwalk Yacht Club and as members of the Corinthians Association, sailing up and down the East Coast and the Caribbean. They also loved skiing and attending operas, classical music concerts and the theater with friends and family.
Charlie himself was a musician. He played the piano and harpsichord for many years as part of a quartet that performed amateur concerts around the Mystic area. Charlie and Jane relished many years of raising their four children and loving their seven grandchildren.
Charlie is survived by his sister, Camilla Cesarini of Massapequa, New York; his son, Ross Hildreth of New Jersey; his daughter, Mary Hildreth Moynihan, and her husband, Jeff Brown, and their children: Katie and Maureen of Sharon Massachusetts; his son, Timothy Weber, Timothy’s wife, Julie, and their children: Megan, Max and Adam of Newtown, Connecticut; and his daughter, Amy Weber Keough, her husband, Daniel, and their children, Madeline and Thomas of Stow, Massachusetts. Charlie also leaves behind beloved cousins, nieces and nephews.
A celebration of his life will be held at Stoneridge Senior Living Community in Mystic on Saturday April 27, 2024 from 12 noon to 2 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, kindly consider a donation to the Stoneridge Scholarship Fund, 186 Jerry Browne Road, Mystic CT, 06355. Please include, “In Memory of Jane and Charlie Hildreth.”
— an obituary from Mystic Funeral Home, where online condolences may be left