Herbert Carl Sutherland Helle passed away peacefully at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, CT on May 16th, 2023, surrounded by loving family. Herb touched many lives in his 92 years and was known for his quick smile, witty sense of humor, and penchant for sharing stories and laughs with family and friends.
Herbert Carl Sutherland Helle
Born in Brooklyn, NY Herb later moved to Cranford, NJ, where he attended Cranford High School. His college years took him to Brown University in Providence, RI, where he was a member of the class of 1952 and Zeta Psi fraternity. After Brown, he served in the U.S. Army, where he held responsibility for guided missiles at White Sands Proving Grounds, NM and Huntsville, AL.
In 1959, Herb married his college sweetheart, the former Nancy Schuleen, who caught his eye and heart at a Brown / Zeta Psi party, where she was taking requests at the piano. After their honeymoon, Herb and Nancy lived in New York City, followed by Bernardsville and New Vernon, NJ, and ultimately their forever home in New Canaan, CT, where they’ve resided since 1964.
Herb enjoyed his long tenure with IBM, beginning as a sales trainee in Newark, NJ. For most of his career, Herb traveled the country–from Alaska and Hawaii, to the principal cities of the other lower 48 states–serving as an IBM brand and product ambassador and organizational leader for IBM’s business trade shows. He also planned events and award trips for IBM’s Gold Circle of top sales performers who unknowingly benefitted from Herb’s passion for exploring new destinations and identifying the secret gems that only locals knew about. He thoroughly enjoyed his work and the travel, cultural, and networking opportunities it afforded.
Herb was also known as devoted philatelist, numismatist, opera-enthusiast, and birder, interests that he passed on to his children and grandchildren. His love of collecting started in his youth with stamps and coins, and later included matchbooks of his favorite restaurants. Soon, beer cans joined the line-up as well. What began as a casual interest in his son Chris’s beer can collection bloomed into a passion that included traveling around the country, visiting and photographing local breweries, and collecting breweriana–long before supporting local breweries came into vogue. His interest in hops and barley was surpassed only by his love for finding new wines to sample and a zest for photographing wineries in the US, France and Italy. He documented his travels and discoveries in volumes of scrapbooks of photos, wine labels, and other memorabilia (creating invaluable resources for any friend or family member visiting the area). As a dedicated oenophile, he was given the affectionate nickname of “Papa Cork” by his grandchildren.
Traveling abroad was a major hobby during his retirement years. Visits to London, Cape Town, Munich, Salzburg, Switzerland, and France’s Bordeaux, Loire Valley, and Provence wine regions were among his -favorites. Herb also served as the press photographer for his wife Nancy, a freelance travel writer, accompanying her on many reporting trips domestically and abroad. Many of his photos were published in the Greenwich Review Magazine, Stamford Advocate, and CT Sunday Post Travel Section.
Herb was a member of The First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan, the Country Club of New Canaan, the Senior Men’s Club, the Brown Club of Fairfield County, and the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin of Fairfield County.
Herb is survived by his wife Nancy, his daughter Karen, son-in-law David Nemiah of South Glastonbury, CT, and their children Matt (of Irvine, CA) and Hannah (of West Hartford, CT) and his son, Chris, daughter-in-law, Heather, and their children Jack and Sydney, of Ardmore, PA.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 3rd at 2:00pm at the First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan, with a reception immediately following. The address for the church is: 178 Oenoke Ridge, New Canaan, CT 06840.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan or Brown University.