Ralph T. “Bart” Bartlett died on Jan. 30, 2017, at Indian River Medical Center at the age of 92.
Born in Lyndhurst, N.J., the son of Ralph Bartlett Sr. and Elinor Chambers Bartlett, he resided in Vero Beach, Fla. He also lived in the Chatham-Madison-Summit area of New Jersey for more than 50 years, and was a longtime seasonal resident of Martha’s Vineyard, where he and his family owned a home on Sengekontacket Pond for over 25 years.
Bart graduated from Lyndhurst High School with honors at age 16, and in the fall of 1941 entered Lehigh University. After flight training in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he returned to Lehigh and graduated in 1947. Bart was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, president of the Interfraternity Council, sports editor of the Brown and White, and a member of the five-man Student Governing Committee. He attended graduate school at New York University.
He was a retired senior partner of the international CPA firm of Deloitte Haskins & Sells (now Deloitte). He became a partner in the firm in 1961, and after managing the firm’s operations in Connecticut and New Jersey, transferred to the firm’s executive office in New York City in 1978, where he was responsible for the firm’s marketing and practice development. He retired from the firm in 1984 at age 60.
He was an editor of the New Jersey CPA Journal, and in 1963 was elected president of the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants. He was on the governing council of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and served two terms as an elected member of council. In 1977 he was elected to a three-year term as a member of the national Review Board of the AICPA.
In 1984 Bart joined the board of directors of Elizabethtown Water Co. in Elizabeth, N.J. In the following year he was also elected a director of E’town Corp. and Driver-Harris Corp. of Harrison, N.J., and New Ross, Ireland.
Bart served as president of the Lehigh Club of Northern N.J., and in 1982 was the recipient of the Lehigh University Alumni Association Award. He was a trustee and finance committee chairman of St. Timothy’s House in Newark, and served the Episcopal diocese of Newark as chairman of its audit committee. He was also treasurer and a member of the board of governors of the Essex Club of Newark, and vice chairman of the finance committee and chairman of the audit and budget committee of the town of Indian River Shores, Fla. He also served as president of his Florida condominium association for more than 20 years.
He was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Vero Beach, Fla., Calvary Church in Summit, N.J., Grace Church in Madison, N.J., and St. Andrew’s Church in Edgartown, and served as senior warden of Christ Church in Bethany, Conn., and vestryman and treasurer of St. Paul’s in Chatham, N.J.
Bart was a member of John’s Island Club in Vero Beach, Edgartown Yacht Club, and
Edgartown Golf Club. He was a president of the Minisink Club of Chatham, N.J.
Bart was devoted to his family, and spent many happy hours playing golf and tennis with his wife, and their children and grandchildren. He especially enjoyed cruising on Long Island Sound and the waters around Martha’s Vineyard with his family on their boat Barnadet.
Generosity and optimism like Bart’s are rare, and he touched so many lives with his capacity to give. He leaves his best friend and wife, Natalie (née Khun), to whom he was married in 1947; three children, Deborah E. Nelson (Richard) of Chatham, N.J., Jeffrey C. Bartlett (Rebecca) of Vero Beach, and Thomas A. Bartlett (Francesca) of Boston and Titusville, N.J.; grandchildren James C. Nelson of Livingston, N.J., Meghan C. Bartlett of Arnold, Md., Matthew T. Bartlett of New York City, and Brittany A. Bartlett of Virginia Beach, Va. He also leaves behind two sisters, Alice Kraus of Naples, Fla., and Ethelwyn Eyrick of LaPorte, Ind., and Martha’s Vineyard.
A memorial service is scheduled for 10 am on Feb. 4, 2017, at Trinity Episcopal Church, Pine Avenue, Vero Beach, with the Rev. Christopher Rodriguez officiating.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Asa Packer Society of Lehigh University, 25 Goodman Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015, or to a charity of your choice.
Arrangements are under the direction of Strunk Funeral Home, Vero Beach. An online guestbook is available at strunkfuneralhome.com.
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