Stanley Foster Dodd, 92, passed away peacefully on August 25. He was a formidable man with an inexhaustible mind fond of fine literature and silly jokes, and known for his generous heart. Born March 14, 1926, in Brooklyn, NY, to Frank Nelaton Dodd and Lillian Williams Dodd, he grew up with his four older siblings at Millfield, the family's historic 70-acre farm in North Babylon, NY. As a child, he loved to spend time in its enormous library, which held more than 3,000 books on language, culture and history, collected by his father (secretary for the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company) and grandfather (a Civil War-era physician). The education they provided helped prepare him to attend the Harvey School in Katonah, NY (1939), and Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH (1943), where he won the Class Prize in Greek and Latin. After graduation, he went on to earn his bachelor's degree in English literature at Williams College (1952), and Juris Doctor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law (1956). (It's safe to say there has never been a prouder or more devoted alumnus of any of those schools.) Stan might have been a poet or novelist had he not chosen to practice law; instead, he traveled across Texas as a land-use attorney with Gulf Oil in the 1950s and '60s before moving on to complete his career at Lawyers Title in Sarasota. Wherever he went, his sparkling blue eyes, mischievous manner and affectionate soul drew people to him, including his late wife, Sally, whom he first met when he was 21. After exchanging letters for decades, they married in 1971, and had two daughters of their own, also raising Sally's daughter from a previous marriage. Tragically, Sally passed away from a brain tumor in 1979. Within months, Stan suffered a debilitating stroke. He fought hard to regain his ability to walk, write and drive, all the while learning how to care for his young daughters alone. In the years that followed, he was fortunate to find love again, and to share his life with some of the world's most exceptional people. He was most recently seen playing the stock market; typing letters to family, friends, and the editors of the paper; and visiting Sarasota breakfast spots for an order of pancakes with a side of political conversation. If you knew Stan, and leant him your ear, your arm or your syrup, thank you. He was an extraordinary father, grandfather, uncle and friend, and he will be missed. Survivors include his daughter Melinda Dodd, her partner, Jay Thornton, and their daughter, Thea Dodd Thornton; daughter Susan Dodd and her partner, Paul Vassallo; and stepdaughter Victoria (Rahi) Ackerman and her husband, George (all of Sarasota); granddaughters Sunee (Washom) Hillyer and husband Adam (Bellevue, WA), and Cobi (Ackerman) McGee and husband Ian (Edmond, OK); nephews Christopher Dodd (Concord, CA), Morgan Dodd and wife Jura Koncius (Washington, DC), and Mark Dodd (East Hampton, NY); nieces Nancy Dodd Uhl (Bayfield, CO), Elizabeth M. Dodd and husband James Boddy (San Francisco, CA), Genevieve Dodd Barhaugh and husband Lee (Choteau, MT), and Lissa Poston and husband Drew (Stuart, FL), plus eight grandnephews, six grandnieces, and their families. Services will be held at Claude R. Boyd-Spencer Funeral Home in Babylon, LI, on September 22, 2018 at 10 a.m., followed by interment in North Babylon Cemetery. A memorial is currently being planned for Stan's Sarasota friends. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to his favorite charity, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
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