~ Fort Hill Cemetery ~
Harold Metcalf Green, a
lifelong sportsman, successful businessman, and driving force in the
renewal of the Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club, whose
congenial personality and positive spirit uplifted all those around
him, died on Sept. 26, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio, after a long illness
of heart failure complicated by pulmonary hypertension. He was 75.
NOTABLE PEOPLE
Harold Metcalf Green
By The Martha's Vineyard Times - Sep 30, 2016
Born 1940, Died 2016
Most recently, Harold
and his wife Rita lived in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, but had
moved to Cleveland to be closer to advanced medical care.
Harold was born Sept.
27, 1940, in Auburn, N.Y., the second son of Wharton Green Jr. and
Nancy Elizabeth Metcalf Green Wyatt-Brown. He was baptized at the
Sand Beach Church in Fleming, N.Y.
A 1959 graduate of
Northwood Preparatory School in Lake Placid, N.Y., Harold “Metty”
Green excelled in sports. He was captain of the varsity football
team, and played on the tennis, hockey, and soccer teams. He was also
president of the Athletic Council, an editor on the school yearbook,
and chairman of many school committees. He was awarded many athletic
trophies, and was the first Northwood student to receive nine varsity
athletic letters.
He graduated in 1963
from the University of Florida with a B.A. degree in advertising and
marketing, and was a member of the college society Sigma Alpha
Epsilon.
His interest in
creativity and business came naturally to him. His father owned Nye &
Wait Carpet in Auburn, and invented nylon carpet. One grandfather,
Harold Grant Metcalf, was president and chairman of the board of
Columbian Rope Co. in Auburn, the world’s largest
rope-manufacturing company. Another grandfather, Wharton Green, was
the lead architect for the City of New York, designing such famous
landmarks as the 1939 World’s Fair, New York City’s IRT
subway system, and Idlewild (later J.F.K. International) Airport.
Harold enjoyed a
25-year career in the communications consulting profession in
Houston, Texas. As an owner, with two other partners, he helped build
his firm, Winius-Brandon, into the largest independent advertising,
marketing, and public relations agency in Houston.
He provided strategic
and tactical communications counsel for many national, regional, and
local consumer-product and service-related clients.
Harold was a member of
Palmer Episcopal Church in Houston, where he was involved as a
volunteer in the civic community with the Houston Grand Opera, and
with charities as chairman of the communications committee of the
American Cancer Society and as communications director of Feed the
Hungry in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
He remained an avid
outdoor sportsman and athlete all his life. His hobbies included but
were not limited to fly fishing, upland bird hunting, skeet, tennis,
golf, photography, hockey, skiing and cross-country motorcycle
riding. He enjoyed early American history and a variety of types of
music, and enjoyed playing the harmonica and guitar.
Following his
retirement in 1989, Harold and Rita moved to Martha’s Vineyard,
where he immediately involved himself in the life of the community.
He became a member of the East Chop Tennis Club, which was founded by
his grandfather, Harold Grant Metcalf, and the Edgartown Yacht Club.
At the time he joined
the Rod and Gun Club, membership and the club were stagnant. He set
about changing all that with his customary energy. Later named
president, he reinvigorated the club by developing new programs and
attracting new members from all walks of Island life to the club
skeet range.
A certified pistol and
skeet instructor, he shot perfect rounds of skeet with both 12-gauge
and 20-gauge shotguns, and won numerous club competitions. He
believed strongly in the next generation’s ability to enjoy the
outdoors, and was a member of and supported many fishing and hunting
organizations.
In 2002 Harold and his
wife Rita moved to San Miguel de Allende to take advantage of the
warmer weather for his health and the fine hunting opportunities,
where he was a member of the Malanquin Country Club.
Harold expanded on his
strong desire for adventure and curiosity about other cultures of the
world by traveling the world, from Cuba to Denmark, Thailand to
Finland, and everywhere in between. His second African safari was to
Tanzania and out onto the Serengeti, to experience and photograph the
Masai and the great animal migrations.
Harold was a passionate
professional photographer and a lover of human-interest
photojournalism and street photography. He studied photography under
several award winning photographers.
Harold is also survived
by six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
A private memorial
service will be held at the Fort Hill Cemetery, Auburn, N.Y., at a
time to be determined.
The family requests
that expressions of sympathy be made to Cleveland Clinic Heart &
Vascular Institute, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44195, or to
the Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club, P.O. Box 1799,
Edgartown, MA 02539.
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