Gordon Nugent
August 19, 2023
Gordon Nugent, born in 1926 in Peoria, Illinois, was the grandson of an Irish farmer who emigrated to the US to escape the Great Potato Famine of 1845-1851, and the son of a Louisiana backwoodsman who built a prosperous lumber business despite having only achieved a fourth-grade education. In a family that valued education above all else, Gordon went on to engineering studies at Purdue University, and graduated from Bradley University and the Columbia School of Journalism. His career took him to positions at the New York Times, General Electric, Phelps Dodge and Union Carbide among others. His work as the creator and editor of the in-house publication, Union Carbide World, garnered numerous journalistic prizes that adorned his home office. As a child of the Depression who was raised to self-sufficiency, Gordon loved to tinker and repair/build things around the house. Most notable was his invention and patent of a personal snowplow that could be affixed to the family car. Moving to Wilton in 1959 with his wife, Austrian pianist, Irene Schneidmann, and two young children, Bärli and Thomas, he was a resident in the family home until his death in August of 2023. A devoted member of Stay at Home Wilton, the Kiwanis Club, the Wilton Family YMCA and the Wilton Senior Center, he was seen for years happily hiking along Rivergate Drive, making friends with the new families that moved in over the decades. His greatest pride, however, were his two grandchildren, Nan Wakefield of Lexington, Kentucky and Spencer Wakefield of Utica, New York. Preceded in death by his wife, Irene, and son, Thomas; he is survived by his grandchildren, his daughter, Bärli of New York City and Wilton, his brother, Lee Nugent and sister-in-law, Edna Nugent of Peoria, Illinois, and nephew, John Nugent and nieces, Sarah and Amy Nugent.
A Celebration of Life will take place on Saturday, January 13, 2024, at 11 a.m. at the Wilton Congregational Church, 70 Ridgefield Road.