Darwin Lathrop Gillett IV, 81

Darwin Lathrop Gillett IV, better known as “Dar” by family and friends, was born on March 17th, 1943 in Mineola, New York to Grace Marie Gillett and Darwin Lathrop Gillett III. He passed away peacefully on the morning of January 19th, 2025 at Portsmouth Regional Hospital in New Hampshire. He was 81 years old.

Darwin Lathrop Gillett, IV

Darwin was a lover of music. He served as manager of the Yale Glee Club World Tour in the summer of 1965 after his graduation. Dar remained involved in singing throughout his life. He was a member of the New Haven Chorale, the Greenwich Choral Society, the Hartford Chorale, the Oratorio Chorale, Vox Nova, and sang in church choirs. He toured with the Yale Alumni Chorus in 2001 to Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Wales and St Paul’s Cathedral with the London Philharmonic.

Dar attended schools in New Canaan CT and graduated from the Hotchkiss school. After graduating,from Yale, Dar went on to earn an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business in 1966 and pursued a career in business and management that included stints at Union Carbide and Hubbell. He worked in strategic planning in several companies, including as director of corporate planning for a Fortune 500 electrical manufacturer, and as a management consultant serving senior executives of major companies. He was also president of a furniture company called Formatron. Darwin did important consulting work and was the author of The Noble Enterprise, a book about the surprising turnaround of a major Canadian company that used effective strategies to uplift and inspire its workforce towards shared purpose and values, and thus better productivity and product. Most recently he co-authored the follow up to ‬‭The Noble Enterprise – Noble Leadership in the Emergent Reality: Uplifting People, Planet, and Prosperity, featuring inspiring stories and insights from noble leaders worldwide.

A loving husband of 58 years, Dar and his surviving wife, Barbara (also known as “Ara”), moved from New Canaan to Avon, Connecticut in 1979 and began living in Phippsburg and Bath, Maine in the late 1990s. They loved spending the winter months in Englewood, Florida where they built a strong network of friends together through their involvement with The Venice Unity Church. A lover of the Outdoors, Darwin introduced his children to camping, hiking, and boating. Although hampered with numerous health problems through the last decade and a half of his life, Darwin never lost his positive spirit, and had the ability to earn the affection of every acquaintance he met. He is survived by his wife, Ara; his four children, Darwin (Kristin), Thomas (Tammy), Timothy, and Mary; his four grandchildren Avery, Parker, Kelly and Annika and by his sister Marie. A celebration of Darwin’s life will be held at Cold Spring Farm in Phippsburg, Maine on May 10th, at 2pm with reception following. 

[This obituary appeared on MyKeeper.com.]