Edward C. Collins II

Thursday February 16, 2012 at 82 years old after a sudden and

unexpected battle with acute leukemia. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Susan Prichard Collins; a son and daughter-in-law, Edward C. Collins III and Lisa Lufkin Collins of Sullivan’s Island, SC; a son Bradford Shattuck (Tuck) Collins of Arlington, MA; a daughter and son in-law, Thayer Collins O’Brien and Joseph D. O’Brien III of Dallas, TX; six grandchildren; and two sisters, Barbara Lewis of Chatham and Ruth Hammer of Stuart, FL. Born October 15, 1929 to Charles and Ruth Collins in Greenwich, CT, he was raised in Rye, NY and Fairfield County, CT. Mr. Collins graduated from The Taft School in Watertown, CT and Williams College in Williamstown, MA (with a BA in English) where he was a member of the Chi Psi fraternity. He earned a Masters of Architecture degree from Yale University and it was there while drawing one night in the studio that he met his beloved wife Susan.

Prior to graduate school, Mr. Collins was a Lieutenant J.G. in the U.S. Navy, circumnavigating the globe while serving on a Destroyer in the Korean War. Following graduate school, he practiced architecture in Ridgefield, CT, Lincoln, MA and Concord, MA. During a career that lasted more than 50 years, Mr. Collins designed unique private residences and pioneered condominiums in the form of cluster housing throughout New England and the East Coast. In the last decade alone, he worked on many restorations of historically significant buildings in Chatham, including the Atwood House Museum and his most recent project, the restoration of the Chatham Orpheum Theater where he served as a Trustee. The plans for the Theater were still on his drawing board at the time of his death. He and his wife restored and preserved the well-known Sail Loft overlooking Stage Harbor in Chatham, converting it into their own private residence. Mr. Collins was known for his humor, creativity, optimism, integrity, resourcefulness and sparkle which he brought to his whole life and each of his projects.

An avid sportsman, Mr. Collins was a member of Eastward Ho! Country Club and the Chatham Beach and Tennis Club, both of which his family joined as founding members. Despite the loss of sight in one eye and an imbalance due to neuropathy in recent years, he continued to challenge and occasionally win the weekly golf sweeps at Eastward Ho!, much to the delight of his friends. In earlier times, he was an accomplished sailor, once winning the coveted Sears Cup, a National Junior

Championship, as part of a four man crew representing Stage Harbor Yacht Club. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Collins and family spent summers living aboard their sailboats Maude and Prima Donna, cruising the eastern seaboard when they weren’t anchored in Stage Harbor. In the1930’s and ‘40’s as early members of the Amateur Ski Club of New York, Mr. Collins’ parents trained their son to ski at Mad River Glen in Vermont. He later bought an old farm with a fellow architect that serves to this day as a family ski house in Waitsfield, VT, raising his own children to ski and his sons to ski race throughout New England and serve as Captains of the Deerfield Academy, St. Paul’s School and Williams College Ski Teams.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Nickerson Funeral Home. The family will be receiving visitors at their home at 38 Bridge Street in Chatham on Sunday, February 19th from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. A memorial Celebration of Life service will be held this summer in Chatham, with details to follow. Burial will be private at Union Cemetery. In addition to flowers, the family has requested donations be sent to the Chatham Orpheum Theater, P.O. Box 17, Chatham, MA 02633 and/or The Atwood House Museum, 347 Stage Harbor Rd., Chatham, MA 02633. For online condolences, please visit www.nickersonfunerals.com