Herbert Melville Patterson ’42

Herbert Melville Patterson ’42 died on September 28, 2006, in Middletown, Connecticut.

He was born on October 21, 1919, in Brookline, MA, and prepared for college at the Beacon School and became a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity at Bowdoin. He graduated from Bowdoin cum laude. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1946 as the skipper of a P.T. boat in the Mediterranean, attaining the rank of lieutenant senior grade.After working for the National Cash Register Company in Dayton, Ohio, and Philadelphia, PA, he joined the Durham Manufacturing Company in Connecticut, where he worked for 55 years, becoming president of the company. From 1961 to 1967, he was a member of the Connecticut General Assembly. In Durham he served as trustee of the United Churches, past chair of the Planning Commission, and member of the Conservation Commission. He was a director of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Connecticut, and chaired its investment committee. He was chair of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association and chair of Connecticut Public Television. He was also a director of Middlesex Public Hospital, the Rockfall Corporation, Farmers and Mechanics Bank, and Chair of the Lyman Farm Corporation. He is survived by his wife, Ellen Mathewson Patterson, whom he married in 1943; three sons, John Patterson of Craftsbury Common,VT, David Patterson of Dover, MA, and Richard Patterson of Old Saybrook, CT; a daughter, Amy (Patterson) Baird ’78 of Boylston, MA; and 11 grandchildren, including Bruce C. Baird ’08 and Emily W. Baird ’09.