John W. Chanler, former Marine, made his mark in Geneseo
Jim Memmott • March 28, 2009



Legend in Geneseo, Livingston County, the town where I live, has it that John W. Chanler could still fit into his U.S. Marine Corps uniform even 40 years after he left the service.

That was easy to believe as John marched in our community's annual Memorial Day parade with other members of American Legion Post 271.

In perfect step and perfect fitness, he was a dependable fixture along the route. We were proud to know him, and he was happy to know us. As simple as it sounds, he was our friend.

John couldn't march recently as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the affliction known as Lou Gehrig's disease, ate away at his health, but not his spirit. Dealt a bad hand, he stayed in the game, worrying about everyone but himself until early on Wednesday morning when, in the company of his family, he died at age 68.

A retired insurance executive and a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, John came from a socially prominent family but was unpretentious in every way.

"John crossed boundaries," said Will Wadsworth, Geneseo's town supervisor and a member of another storied Geneseo family. "He never let his status in life govern how he was. He knew your children's names, your dog's names."

"He had an extraordinary life by anyone's standards," said Kevin Chanler of Taos, N.M., John's oldest child.


John was born in 1940 in Washington, D.C., the son of Gertrude Laughlin Chanler, an heir to the Laughlin Steel fortune, and Hubert W. Chanler, a descendant of the tycoon John Jacob Astor. Mrs. Chanler, John and his sister Elizabeth, were in Pearl Harbor in 1941, as Hubert Chanler, an admiral in the U.S. Navy, was stationed there.

After the Dec. 7 attack, the family evacuated, eventually returning to Sweet Briar, an imposing mansion overlooking the Genesee Valley outside the village of Geneseo that would become home to eight Chanler children.

As a boy, John took up foxhunting on horseback, an avocation he enjoyed for decades.


However, he could not hunt as much as he wanted, as he was sent to boarding school at the age of 10. Graduating from Portsmouth Abbey School in Rhode Island in 1958, he went on to Villanova University. Graduating in 1962, he served three years in the Marine Corps and then became an agent with the FBI, serving in Kentucky and Chicago.




In 1967, he married Sheila Welch, whom he had known since he was 8 and she was 4. The couple returned to Geneseo in 1968, and John became an insurance agent, eventually purchasing the agency that became the John W. Chanler Agency Inc. in 1980. The next year, he opened a second office in Geneseo. His son, Andrew W. Chanler, bought the agency, now known as Chanler Agency Inc., in 2002.

To Andrew, John was both a personal and a professional role model. "There wasn't anything he did where he didn't put his full effort in," Andrew said. "He filled every single day with as much as he could."
In addition to taking part in the Genesee Valley Hunt and serving as vice president of the board of governors, John was a past president of the Genesee Valley Conservancy, a long-time member of the Geneseo Fire Department, and a former board member of the Geneseo Foundation of the State University College at Geneseo.

He played for the Loon Lake Voyagers, an adult hockey team. He also was a licensed pilot and an avid skier. Beyond all of this, John was a person who could listen, who could encourage.

"He always gave someone a chance. He had wonderful empathy," said his daughter, Alice Brannegan of Stonington, Conn. "When we were growing up, he knew exactly how we felt."

John's special connection to children extended beyond his family. Mike Smith of Geneseo, a real estate agent, remembers John stopping by his house on an insurance matter many years ago. Smith's son Drew, then about 3, found John so engaging that he asked him to stay the night.

John was diagnosed with ALS in 2006. "We came home and I said to him, 'You know this is a horrible disease,'" Sheila Chanler recalled. "He said, 'I can make the best of every day. I'm living to live, not waiting to die. ... He never complained. He never said, 'Woe is me.'"

In addition to his wife and three children, John is survived by his sisters, Elizabeth Chatwin of Oxfordshire, England; Margaret Gay Chanler and Alida Dierker, both of Flagstaff, Ariz.; Felicity McClenachan of Lenox, Mass.; and his brothers, Adrian Chanler of Charleston, S.C.; Oliver Chanler of Geneseo and Alexander Chanler of Andover, Mass. He is also survived by six grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. today at St. Mary Church in Geneseo.


Memorials can be sent to the Genesee Valley Conservancy, P.O. Box 73, Geneseo, NY, 14454, or to an organization the donor shared with John.

In 1967, he married Sheila Welch, whom he had known since he was 8 and she was 4. The couple returned to Geneseo in 1968, and John became an insurance agent, eventually purchasing the agency that became the John W. Chanler Agency Inc. in 1980. The next year, he opened a second office in Geneseo. His son, Andrew W. Chanler, bought the agency, now known as Chanler Agency Inc., in 2002.



To Andrew, John was both a personal and a professional role model. "There wasn't anything he did where he didn't put his full effort in," Andrew said. "He filled every single day with as much as he could."

In addition to taking part in the Genesee Valley Hunt and serving as vice president of the board of governors, John was a past president of the Genesee Valley Conservancy, a long-time member of the Geneseo Fire Department, and a former board member of the Geneseo Foundation of the State University College at Geneseo.

He played for the Loon Lake Voyagers, an adult hockey team. He also was a licensed pilot and an avid skier. Beyond all of this, John was a person who could listen, who could encourage.

"He always gave someone a chance. He had wonderful empathy," said his daughter, Alice Brannegan of Stonington, Conn. "When we were growing up, he knew exactly how we felt."

John's special connection to children extended beyond his family. Mike Smith of Geneseo, a real estate agent, remembers John stopping by his house on an insurance matter many years ago. Smith's son Drew, then about 3, found John so engaging that he asked him to stay the night.

John was diagnosed with ALS in 2006. "We came home and I said to him, 'You know this is a horrible disease,'" Sheila Chanler recalled. "He said, 'I can make the best of every day. I'm living to live, not waiting to die. ... He never complained. He never said, 'Woe is me.'"

In addition to his wife and three children, John is survived by his sisters, Elizabeth Chatwin of Oxfordshire, England; Margaret Gay Chanler and Alida Dierker, both of Flagstaff, Ariz.; Felicity McClenachan of Lenox, Mass.; and his brothers, Adrian Chanler of Charleston, S.C.; Oliver Chanler of Geneseo and Alexander Chanler of Andover, Mass. He is also survived by six grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. today at St. Mary Church in Geneseo.


Memorials can be sent to the Genesee Valley Conservancy, P.O. Box 73, Geneseo, NY, 14454, or to an organization the donor shared with John.


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