Francis I. duPont, of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, died peacefully in his home above his beloved Brandywine on Thursday, July 21 at the age of 95.
Francis (also known as Nick) was born in Buffalo, New York in 1926, the oldest son of Emile F. duPont and Sarah Duer Townsend. Throughout his life, he enjoyed enduring friendships with duPont and Townsend cousins almost too numerous to count.
After his early years in Buffalo and Richmond, Virginia where his father was a supervisor at DuPont Company plants, the family returned to Wilmington in the late 1930s where Francis lived for almost all of his life. He attended Friends School in Wilmington and graduated from Kent School in Kent, Connecticut in the class of 1945, though he enlisted in the U.S. Navy after his junior year and served from December 1944 to July 1946 before going on inactive reserve status. He graduated from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1950 and was called back to active duty during the Korean War, serving as cargo officer on naval vessels in the Caribbean and North Atlantic.
After his naval service, Francis began a career with the DuPont Company, moving to Kinston, North Carolina where he worked as a supervisor in a DuPont Dacron plant. He returned to Wilmington in 1957 to join fiber product sales at DuPont and worked there until 1967 when he joined the Photo Products Division in Chicago. He returned to Wilmington again in 1969 to join cousin E.I. (Brud) duPont and Richard V. King at Delfi Management, where Francis worked in marketing and sold the firm's Sigma mutual fund investments. He retired from Delfi in 1975 and devoted himself to conservation, charitable and historical endeavors for the rest of his life.
Francis was an avid outdoorsman who loved hunting, fishing, boating and camping, and pursued a lifelong passion for gardening and beekeeping. He was a member of the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture for many years. These interests led him to join with George A. (Frolic) Weymouth and William Prickett in the founding of the Brandywine Conservancy, which now holds more than 480 conservation easements and has protected more than 64,500 acres from development in Chester and Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania and in New Castle County, Delaware.
Francis played a major role in the development and construction of the Kalmar Nyckel, Delaware's replica of the ship that Peter Minuit sailed across the Atlantic in 1638 bringing settlers from northern Europe to found New Sweden on the Christina River. For more than a decade the work of fundraising and organizing, and eventually launching this ship was his principal focus. He made lasting friendships with many enthusiastic partners in this ongoing project.
Francis also worked as a volunteer for years in the DuPont family residence gardens at Hagley and at Longwood Gardens, bringing together his lifelong love of the plants and soil of the Brandywine Valley and the institutions his family established and nurtured for all to enjoy.
Francis was well known for his deep and steadfast Christian faith. He taught Sunday School at Christ Church for many years, participated regularly in several bible study groups and was a longtime supporter of charitable organizations such as Urban Promise and the Ministry of Caring.
He is survived by his brother, Peter R. duPont and his wife Jeanie of New York, NY; five children from his first marriage to Rosamond L. duPont, who predeceased him in 2021: Augustus I. duPont and his wife Jill of Greenwich, CT and Chilmark, MA; Emile F. duPont and his wife Lindsay of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY; Maria S. duPont and her husband Bob Penneys of Chadds Ford, PA; Sophie G. duPont of Broomall, PA; and Louis R. duPont and his wife Ellen Spring of Starksboro, VT; three children of his second wife Elizabeth B. duPont, who predeceased him in 2009: Robert B. Swezey and his wife Kellie of Valrico, FL; Duncan F. Swezey and his wife Laura of Ambler, PA; and Dan H. Swezey of Wilmington, DE; 14 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
There will be a celebration of life in memory of Francis at Christ Church, Greenville, Delaware on Friday, September 23, 2022 at 11:00 a.m., followed by a reception in the Parish Hall. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Brandywine Conservancy, Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, Urban Promise or the Ministry of Caring. For online condolences please visit Chandlerfuneralhome.com.
Source: https://www.delawareonline.com/obituaries/wnj125002
Posted online on July 27, 2022
Published in The News Journal
Francis (also known as Nick) was born in Buffalo, New York in 1926, the oldest son of Emile F. duPont and Sarah Duer Townsend. Throughout his life, he enjoyed enduring friendships with duPont and Townsend cousins almost too numerous to count.
After his early years in Buffalo and Richmond, Virginia where his father was a supervisor at DuPont Company plants, the family returned to Wilmington in the late 1930s where Francis lived for almost all of his life. He attended Friends School in Wilmington and graduated from Kent School in Kent, Connecticut in the class of 1945, though he enlisted in the U.S. Navy after his junior year and served from December 1944 to July 1946 before going on inactive reserve status. He graduated from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1950 and was called back to active duty during the Korean War, serving as cargo officer on naval vessels in the Caribbean and North Atlantic.
After his naval service, Francis began a career with the DuPont Company, moving to Kinston, North Carolina where he worked as a supervisor in a DuPont Dacron plant. He returned to Wilmington in 1957 to join fiber product sales at DuPont and worked there until 1967 when he joined the Photo Products Division in Chicago. He returned to Wilmington again in 1969 to join cousin E.I. (Brud) duPont and Richard V. King at Delfi Management, where Francis worked in marketing and sold the firm's Sigma mutual fund investments. He retired from Delfi in 1975 and devoted himself to conservation, charitable and historical endeavors for the rest of his life.
Francis was an avid outdoorsman who loved hunting, fishing, boating and camping, and pursued a lifelong passion for gardening and beekeeping. He was a member of the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture for many years. These interests led him to join with George A. (Frolic) Weymouth and William Prickett in the founding of the Brandywine Conservancy, which now holds more than 480 conservation easements and has protected more than 64,500 acres from development in Chester and Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania and in New Castle County, Delaware.
Francis played a major role in the development and construction of the Kalmar Nyckel, Delaware's replica of the ship that Peter Minuit sailed across the Atlantic in 1638 bringing settlers from northern Europe to found New Sweden on the Christina River. For more than a decade the work of fundraising and organizing, and eventually launching this ship was his principal focus. He made lasting friendships with many enthusiastic partners in this ongoing project.
Francis also worked as a volunteer for years in the DuPont family residence gardens at Hagley and at Longwood Gardens, bringing together his lifelong love of the plants and soil of the Brandywine Valley and the institutions his family established and nurtured for all to enjoy.
Francis was well known for his deep and steadfast Christian faith. He taught Sunday School at Christ Church for many years, participated regularly in several bible study groups and was a longtime supporter of charitable organizations such as Urban Promise and the Ministry of Caring.
He is survived by his brother, Peter R. duPont and his wife Jeanie of New York, NY; five children from his first marriage to Rosamond L. duPont, who predeceased him in 2021: Augustus I. duPont and his wife Jill of Greenwich, CT and Chilmark, MA; Emile F. duPont and his wife Lindsay of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY; Maria S. duPont and her husband Bob Penneys of Chadds Ford, PA; Sophie G. duPont of Broomall, PA; and Louis R. duPont and his wife Ellen Spring of Starksboro, VT; three children of his second wife Elizabeth B. duPont, who predeceased him in 2009: Robert B. Swezey and his wife Kellie of Valrico, FL; Duncan F. Swezey and his wife Laura of Ambler, PA; and Dan H. Swezey of Wilmington, DE; 14 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
There will be a celebration of life in memory of Francis at Christ Church, Greenville, Delaware on Friday, September 23, 2022 at 11:00 a.m., followed by a reception in the Parish Hall. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Brandywine Conservancy, Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, Urban Promise or the Ministry of Caring. For online condolences please visit Chandlerfuneralhome.com.
Source: https://www.delawareonline.com/obituaries/wnj125002
Posted online on July 27, 2022
Published in The News Journal
Francis I. duPont, of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, died peacefully in his home above his beloved Brandywine on Thursday, July 21 at the age of 95.
Francis (also known as Nick) was born in Buffalo, New York in 1926, the oldest son of Emile F. duPont and Sarah Duer Townsend. Throughout his life, he enjoyed enduring friendships with duPont and Townsend cousins almost too numerous to count.
After his early years in Buffalo and Richmond, Virginia where his father was a supervisor at DuPont Company plants, the family returned to Wilmington in the late 1930s where Francis lived for almost all of his life. He attended Friends School in Wilmington and graduated from Kent School in Kent, Connecticut in the class of 1945, though he enlisted in the U.S. Navy after his junior year and served from December 1944 to July 1946 before going on inactive reserve status. He graduated from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1950 and was called back to active duty during the Korean War, serving as cargo officer on naval vessels in the Caribbean and North Atlantic.
After his naval service, Francis began a career with the DuPont Company, moving to Kinston, North Carolina where he worked as a supervisor in a DuPont Dacron plant. He returned to Wilmington in 1957 to join fiber product sales at DuPont and worked there until 1967 when he joined the Photo Products Division in Chicago. He returned to Wilmington again in 1969 to join cousin E.I. (Brud) duPont and Richard V. King at Delfi Management, where Francis worked in marketing and sold the firm's Sigma mutual fund investments. He retired from Delfi in 1975 and devoted himself to conservation, charitable and historical endeavors for the rest of his life.
Francis was an avid outdoorsman who loved hunting, fishing, boating and camping, and pursued a lifelong passion for gardening and beekeeping. He was a member of the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture for many years. These interests led him to join with George A. (Frolic) Weymouth and William Prickett in the founding of the Brandywine Conservancy, which now holds more than 480 conservation easements and has protected more than 64,500 acres from development in Chester and Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania and in New Castle County, Delaware.
Francis played a major role in the development and construction of the Kalmar Nyckel, Delaware's replica of the ship that Peter Minuit sailed across the Atlantic in 1638 bringing settlers from northern Europe to found New Sweden on the Christina River. For more than a decade the work of fundraising and organizing, and eventually launching this ship was his principal focus. He made lasting friendships with many enthusiastic partners in this ongoing project.
Francis also worked as a volunteer for years in the DuPont family residence gardens at Hagley and at Longwood Gardens, bringing together his lifelong love of the plants and soil of the Brandywine Valley and the institutions his family established and nurtured for all to enjoy.
Francis was well known for his deep and steadfast Christian faith. He taught Sunday School at Christ Church for many years, participated regularly in several bible study groups and was a longtime supporter of charitable organizations such as Urban Promise and the Ministry of Caring.
He is survived by his brother, Peter R. duPont and his wife Jeanie of New York, NY; five children from his first marriage to Rosamond L. duPont, who predeceased him in 2021: Augustus I. duPont and his wife Jill of Greenwich, CT and Chilmark, MA; Emile F. duPont and his wife Lindsay of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY; Maria S. duPont and her husband Bob Penneys of Chadds Ford, PA; Sophie G. duPont of Broomall, PA; and Louis R. duPont and his wife Ellen Spring of Starksboro, VT; three children of his second wife Elizabeth B. duPont, who predeceased him in 2009: Robert B. Swezey and his wife Kellie of Valrico, FL; Duncan F. Swezey and his wife Laura of Ambler, PA; and Dan H. Swezey of Wilmington, DE; 14 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
There will be a celebration of life in memory of Francis at Christ Church, Greenville, Delaware on Friday, September 23, 2022 at 11:00 a.m., followed by a reception in the Parish Hall. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Brandywine Conservancy, Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, Urban Promise or the Ministry of Caring. For online condolences please visit Chandlerfuneralhome.com.
Source: https://www.delawareonline.com/obituaries/wnj125002
Posted online on July 27, 2022
Published in The News Journal
Francis (also known as Nick) was born in Buffalo, New York in 1926, the oldest son of Emile F. duPont and Sarah Duer Townsend. Throughout his life, he enjoyed enduring friendships with duPont and Townsend cousins almost too numerous to count.
After his early years in Buffalo and Richmond, Virginia where his father was a supervisor at DuPont Company plants, the family returned to Wilmington in the late 1930s where Francis lived for almost all of his life. He attended Friends School in Wilmington and graduated from Kent School in Kent, Connecticut in the class of 1945, though he enlisted in the U.S. Navy after his junior year and served from December 1944 to July 1946 before going on inactive reserve status. He graduated from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1950 and was called back to active duty during the Korean War, serving as cargo officer on naval vessels in the Caribbean and North Atlantic.
After his naval service, Francis began a career with the DuPont Company, moving to Kinston, North Carolina where he worked as a supervisor in a DuPont Dacron plant. He returned to Wilmington in 1957 to join fiber product sales at DuPont and worked there until 1967 when he joined the Photo Products Division in Chicago. He returned to Wilmington again in 1969 to join cousin E.I. (Brud) duPont and Richard V. King at Delfi Management, where Francis worked in marketing and sold the firm's Sigma mutual fund investments. He retired from Delfi in 1975 and devoted himself to conservation, charitable and historical endeavors for the rest of his life.
Francis was an avid outdoorsman who loved hunting, fishing, boating and camping, and pursued a lifelong passion for gardening and beekeeping. He was a member of the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture for many years. These interests led him to join with George A. (Frolic) Weymouth and William Prickett in the founding of the Brandywine Conservancy, which now holds more than 480 conservation easements and has protected more than 64,500 acres from development in Chester and Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania and in New Castle County, Delaware.
Francis played a major role in the development and construction of the Kalmar Nyckel, Delaware's replica of the ship that Peter Minuit sailed across the Atlantic in 1638 bringing settlers from northern Europe to found New Sweden on the Christina River. For more than a decade the work of fundraising and organizing, and eventually launching this ship was his principal focus. He made lasting friendships with many enthusiastic partners in this ongoing project.
Francis also worked as a volunteer for years in the DuPont family residence gardens at Hagley and at Longwood Gardens, bringing together his lifelong love of the plants and soil of the Brandywine Valley and the institutions his family established and nurtured for all to enjoy.
Francis was well known for his deep and steadfast Christian faith. He taught Sunday School at Christ Church for many years, participated regularly in several bible study groups and was a longtime supporter of charitable organizations such as Urban Promise and the Ministry of Caring.
He is survived by his brother, Peter R. duPont and his wife Jeanie of New York, NY; five children from his first marriage to Rosamond L. duPont, who predeceased him in 2021: Augustus I. duPont and his wife Jill of Greenwich, CT and Chilmark, MA; Emile F. duPont and his wife Lindsay of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY; Maria S. duPont and her husband Bob Penneys of Chadds Ford, PA; Sophie G. duPont of Broomall, PA; and Louis R. duPont and his wife Ellen Spring of Starksboro, VT; three children of his second wife Elizabeth B. duPont, who predeceased him in 2009: Robert B. Swezey and his wife Kellie of Valrico, FL; Duncan F. Swezey and his wife Laura of Ambler, PA; and Dan H. Swezey of Wilmington, DE; 14 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
There will be a celebration of life in memory of Francis at Christ Church, Greenville, Delaware on Friday, September 23, 2022 at 11:00 a.m., followed by a reception in the Parish Hall. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Brandywine Conservancy, Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, Urban Promise or the Ministry of Caring. For online condolences please visit Chandlerfuneralhome.com.
Source: https://www.delawareonline.com/obituaries/wnj125002
Posted online on July 27, 2022
Published in The News Journal
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
