Sidney D. Zacharias of Stamford, and more recently Darien, died Jan.19 at the age of 101. His final illness was short and followed a full and active life.
As recently as October 2016, Sidney was declared national champion in his age class in the Veterans’ Rowing and Kayaking Competition and was featured on Channel 12 as he rowed a kilometer in less than eight-and-one-half minutes (see the video below this article).
Photo from Darien Atria
Sid Zacharais last October, as he completed 1000 meters on the Concept 2 rower.
Sidney was born in Chattanooga, Tenn. before the United States entered World War I, was raised in New York City during the Roaring ’20s and entered his father’s advertising and marketing business in the ’30s.
This gave Sidney the opportunity to dance at the Cocoanut Grove past the tables of Clark Gable, Carole Lombard and Howard Hughes, to share a cab ride with Joan Crawford and to have his picture taken at the New Year’s 1941 celebration at the Waldorf Astoria.
Before the United States entered World War II, Sidney saw the threat of war on the horizon and joined the Navy. Following an initial assignment patrolling in a wooden sailboat off Long Island for submarines, Sidney took command of an ocean-going tugboat, crossed the Pacific to Okinawa and prepared for the invasion of Japan.
It was during that time that Sidney confronted the possibility of his own death when the fleet was subjected to relentless kamikaze attacks and he saw that his orders involved following the invasion boats ashore to clear the landing zone of those that were disabled.
Sidney Zacharias passed away on Thursday, Jan. 19, at the age of 101.
The ending of the war before the invasion saved Sidney from that immediate threat, but he was still in Okinawa harbor in October, 1945 when a massive typhoon struck, almost destroying the fleet.
Sidney had set his anchor and was steaming toward it when an empty cargo ship slipped its mooring and, riding high with its propeller spinning above the water line, cut the bow off Sidney’s tug. Sidney saw to the evacuation of his crew and was the last to step off his tug before it sank. Seventy years later Sidney could still bemoan the loss of the bottle of excellent scotch that was securely locked in his cabin.
Following the war Sidney married his beloved Barbara and continued his career in advertising on Madison Avenue. He could confirm that most of what TV viewers saw on “Mad Men” was true.
Following his retirement, Sidney continued his love affair with the sea. By that time Sidney and Barbara bought their last sailboat, a 45-foot ketch named Liebchen (“Sweetheart”) living on it at one point for more than two years.
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— This obituary previously was published by the Darien News.
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Sidney was a long-time member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Power Squadron, participating in patrols in Long Island Sound, conducting boating inspections and teaching classes in seamanship and navigation.
When the Republican National Convention was held in New York City in 2004, at the age of 88, he was part of a crew that patrolled in New York harbor to provide security for the oil storage tanks in Bayonne, N.J.
Sidney and Barbara never had children of their own, but Sidney’s survivors include the generations he taught to sail with a sextant and the stars.
Funeral arrangements will be private, but contributions in Sidney’s name may be made to Fisher House Foundation, an international not-for-profit organization established to provide a network of comfort homes where military and veterans’ families can stay at no cost while a loved one is receiving treatment.
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Editor’s note: Atria Senior Living recently posted this video with a short article about the Veterans’ Rowing and Kayaking Competition at Atria Darien. Sidney Zacharias is shown in it: