LEBANON, NH — Hamilton Bowen Holt II, known as Tony, passed away peacefully in his home at The Woodlands, in Lebanon, NH, January 18, 2021, surrounded by his wife and two children.

Tony came from a long line of distinguished, social-activist Americans, including the abolitionist Lewis Tappan and Hamilton Bowen Holt I, Tony’s grandfather and namesake, who was a founding member of the NAACP in 1909, an attendee at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, and the President of Rollins College from 1925 – 1949.

The only child to Dorothy (Ayres) and John Eliot Holt, Tony was born on April 18, 1935, in Geneva, Switzerland, where his father was the General Manager of IBM-Europe from 1934 to 1940. They left Geneva at the start of World War II and lived briefly in Rochester, NY, before settling in Hampton, CT. Tony graduated from Phillips Academy (Andover) in 1952 and got his five-year Bachelors/Masters in Engineering from Cornell in 1957, graduating Tau Beta Pi. He was a member of Sigma Phi fraternity and Navy ROTC. Upon graduation, he was stationed in Hawaii and California for two years as a Lieutenant JG, commissioned on the destroyer the USS Strickland.

In 1959, Tony completed his service to the Navy to become a sales representative at Moldex, the plastics manufacturing company in NE Connecticut that was founded, owned, and run by his father. In that same year, he married Katherine (Kay) Kinney, of Mansfield Center, CT. Tony and Kay first lived in Hampton, CT and then in 1972 with their two young children, moved to Mansfield Center to live in Kay’s family home. Tony and Kay lived in the Fitch House until 2016.

After attending Harvard’s Program for Management and Development in the 1968 cohort, Tony took over the reins at Moldex and became the President.

Tony served on numerous local boards during his business career. He was the President of the Board at two hospitals – Day Kimball hospital, in Putnam CT and later Windham Hospital, in Willimantic, CT. He served as Board Chair of the Mansfield Center Historic District Commission and Treasurer of Joshua’s Trust, a non-profit land and heritage conservation trust.

Tony retired from Moldex in 1995 to share duties with his wife as innkeepers of their home, which they turned into a B & B – The Fitch House. They ran the B & B for eighteen years. Tony and Kay split the B & B duties, with Tony as the breakfast chef, bed-maker, and groundskeeper.

In 2016, Tony and Kay moved to The Woodlands, in Lebanon, NH, where they were welcomed by new friends for the last years of Tony’s life.

His whole life, Tony was an avid athlete – skiing, tennis, golf, and hiking. A proud moment for Tony was when he and his son climbed Mt Madison, completing their final peak to become members of AMC’s 4,000 Foot Club, an eight-year adventure.

In addition to sports, Tony loved music. He proposed to Kay after a concert at Tanglewood, and they attended concerts there every summer since then. Tony was also a proud audience member at numerous singing performances of his daughter.

Skiing, however, was truly his passion. In 1967, Tony and Kay purchased a small fixer-upper home in Cornish, NH. It was the beginning of a life-long love of New Hampshire and New England skiing. Of the many ski holidays outside of New England that Tony and his family experienced, the highlight was skiing hut to hut with his son and daughter-in-law on a professionally guided, back-country ski expedition of the Haute-Route in Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. Tony was 67 when he did this trip.

Tony was a source of strength for all who met him. He was a true gentleman. He will best be remembered for his dignity and kindness, his gentle but infectious sense of humor, his thoughtfulness and integrity, his sense of order and calm, his positive outlook, his loyalty to friends, his deep and abiding love for his family – and his love of red wine, foreign cars, music, and skiing!

The family would like to thank Bayada Hospice and Sweet Home Care LLC for their excellence in providing compassionate care to Tony and guidance to the family. The doctors at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Norris Cotton Cancer Center and Dr. Sari Galanes should also be commended for their excellent care for Tony while he lived in Lebanon, NH.

Tony is survived by his wife of 61 years, Kay; two children – son George C. Holt III (wife Dr. Deborah Sellars) of Dunbarton, NH and daughter Kyle Holt Hopkins (husband Douglas) of Buffalo, NY; and three grandchildren – Eliza A. Hopkins, Abigail C. Hopkins, and Colin T. Holt.

A service will be held in Mansfield Center, CT, at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation, in Tony’s name, to Joshua’s Trust, P.O. Box 4, Mansfield Center, CT, 06250 or https://joshuastrust.org/.

To leave a message of condolence or remembrance, please visit the online guestbook at www.rickerfuneralhome.com.