Claremont
Cossingham, 65, was injured on March 9 and taken to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in critical condition. He had been in a coma until his death.
Cossingham and his wife, Deborah, bought Full Circle Farm in 2012 and offer riding lessons and therapeutic riding for both children and adults.
“I heard from many people who thought it was so great they opened the farm to the community,” said City Councilor Nick Koloski.
Koloski said he did not know Cossingham very well but did encounter him on occasion at city events.
“I always heard he was very well-respected and treated his employees like family,” Koloski said.
Cossingham also generously supported many city events, included Claremont’s 250th anniversary in 2014, Koloski said.
Cossingham bought NFR in 1989 in Windsor with just six employees and moved it to Claremont a year later. Today NFR employs about 250 people at three locations in Claremont and one in Bradenton, Fla. When the expansion now underway on Maple Avenue is complete, NFR will consolidate its three offices under one roof. National Field Representatives works with the mortgage industry, providing a range of services for properties nationwide that are in delinquency or foreclosure.
Claremont Planning and Development Director Nancy Merrill said she has had a fair amount of communication with Cossingham the last several years when NFR moved into the Wainshal building on Water Street and then proposed the expansion on Maple Avenue that involved buying two additional parcels.
“My experience with Steve was always great,” Merrill said. “He was a very nice man, always pleasant, and I understand that is how he treated his employees. It is really a shame. It is a loss for the city, but particularly for the people who worked for him.”
Cossingham grew up in Claremont, where riding horses was part of his youth at the family’s Rawhide Stables on Old Church Road. He graduated from Stevens High School then earned a bachelor’s degree from New England College.
NFR has steadily grown over the years to become one of the city’s largest employers and one of its most stable. The company said on Monday that Cossingham “assembled and mentored” NFR’s management team, the members of which have an average of 14 years with the company.
In February, NFR was chosen as the city’s Business of the Year at the annual Chamber of Commerce President’s Award event. NFR was also selected as one of the Top 100 private businesses in the state by N.H. Business Magazine.
NFR said its operations and expansion would be able to continue.
“While Mr. Cossingham’s passing is difficult for all of NFR’s employees, the management team and staff that Mr. Cossingham put into place will continue to maintain NFR as the best service company in the mortgage industry,” the company said.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
