William H. Hazen ’52 died on October 5, 2001, in New York, New York.
(The following was provided by The Ellsworth American on October 11, 2001)
William Harris Hazen, 70, of Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., with close ties to this area, died Oct. 5, 2001, at New York City from complications following surgery.
Born on Jan. 6, 1931, at Salem, Mass., he attended Bayside High School in New York and graduated from Holten High School in Danvers, Mass. Hazen graduated from Bowdoin College with an AB in 1952, then served as a Naval officer with the Seventh Fleet in the Pacific during the Korean War. He earned a JD degree from Harvard Law School in 1958, practiced law in New York City, and subsequently served as assistant counsel, then executive assistant to the New York State Superintendent of Banks. In 1964, he joined J & W Seligman, a New York City investment firm, as a lawyer.
Hazen was named a Seligman general partner in 1969, and shortly after, Vice President of the Seligman Funds. In 1975 he was promoted to Chief Operations and Financial Officer, then in 1981 was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Seligman Securities, Inc., the firm’s brokerage subsidiary. In 1983, he also became Chief Executive Officer of Seligman Trust Co., the country’s first trust company owned by a firm managing mutual funds also having seats on major stock exchanges. At the time of his death, he was a Managing Director of J & W Seligman, Inc. and President of Seligman Services, Inc.
Active in Bowdoin affairs for many years, Hazen served as President of the Bowdoin Club of New York and a member of the Alumni Council, was elected an Overseer of the college in 1981 and served as Vice President, then President of the Board of Overseers. He served as national chair for the Campaign for Bowdoin from 1984 to 1989. He received the Alumni Service Award in 1991, and was named to the Board of Trustees in 1993. Earlier this year he had become a Trustee Emeritus. Appreciating the financial assistance received from the college while attending Bowdoin, he established and endowed a scholarship fund in his name several years ago.
An avid fisherman, he served as Vice President, then President of the Anglers Club in New York, and was a trustee of Trout Unlimited. Only two weeks ago, he had returned from an exciting and successful fishing expedition to a remote region of British Columbia.
In Brooklyn Heights, he was a member of the Board of Governors of the Heights Association, President of the Trustees of Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, President of the Heights Landmark Conservancy, a member of the Long Island Historical Society, and the Heights Casino.
He was a member of the New York Yacht Club and enjoyed many sailing cruises along the coast of Maine with his family and close friends. In addition to their home in Brooklyn, the Hazen family maintained a summer cottage at Point of Woods in Fire Island, N.Y., where he enjoyed tennis, boating and fishing.
He is survived by his loving wife and partner of 42 years, Judith Ettl Hazen; two very special daughters and their husbands, Cordelia Hazen and Todd Tappin of Malibu, Calif., and Dr. Alexes Hazen and David Boyum of Brooklyn Heights; a beloved grandson, Spencer Hazen Boyum of Brooklyn Heights, a beloved granddaughter, Isabella Tappin of Malibu; and a sister, Lois Hatch of Doswell, Va.