Oakleigh B. Thorne, a successful businessman, sportsman, and philanthropist known for his quick wit and irreverent personality, died last week at his home in Millbrook, N.Y. He was 88 years old.
He was best known in business circles for his stewardship of the Thorne family holding company CT Corp. in New York City through the 1960s and '70s and for ultimately merging that company into its largest holding, Commerce Clearing House, in 1976.
Shortly after the merger, the family faced losing control of the company as they were forced to sell stock to pay the tax on Thorne's father's estate. Thorne employed the then-novel tactic of using the company's cash to buy large chunks of CCH stock to pay the tax and retain control.
In 1980, Thorne retired to the family's estate, Thorndale, near Millbrook, though he remained chairman of the board of CCH until the family sold the company to Wolters Kluwer in 1996.
In Dutchess County, he was best known for the philanthropy of the Millbrook Tribute Garden and his participation on the boards of numerous local nonprofit organizations. The Millbrook Tribute Garden was founded by his great grandfather and great grandmother in 1943 to own and support a local park honoring area citizens who served in World War I and World War II. Under Thorne's 38-year tenure as its president, it expanded its mandate and gave tens of millions of dollars to local charities, schools, colleges, hospitals, and municipalities.
The local boards on which Thorne served included the Dutchess Land Conservancy (where he was a founding member), the Dutchess Day School (where he served 10 years as chairman of the board), the Millbrook School, the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies, and Nine Partners Cemetery.
Though born to privilege, Thorne was quick to dispense with pretense and share his amusing observations and mischievous grin with all comers.
He was born in Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1932, the first child of Oakleigh L. Thorne and Bertha Palmer Thorne. His father was a descendant of an old New York family that had financial success in the leather and publishing businesses, and his mother was a descendant of the prominent Palmer family of Chicago.
The family moved frequently when Thorne was a youth, including stops in Chicago, Bedford, N.Y., and Washington D.C as his father went to work for the family business and then entered the U.S. Navy in the lead-up to World War II.
The family settled in Santa Barbara, Calif., during the war while Thorne's father served in the Pacific theater and he attended the Midlands School in Los Olivos, Ca.
He graduated from St. Marks School in Southborough, Mass., in 1950 (where he later served on the board) and went to Harvard University, where he majored in economics and graduated in 1956, after serving in the U.S. Army in South Korea from 1953-55.
After retiring to Millbrook, Thorne pursued numerous avocations, including breeding Thoroughbreds, wine making, and polo.
In 1980, he established Eaton-Thorne, a Thoroughbred breeding operation with Lee Eaton, a well-known bloodstock agent. The partnership produced numerous stakes-caliber horses, including New York-bred champions Notebook and Mckaymackenna.
He also took up polo in the mid-1980s, establishing the Thorndale polo team with Alex "Zulu" Scott-Barnes and co-founding the Millbrook Polo Club (now the Mashomack Polo Club). The Thorndale team traveled the country and spent regular seasons in Millbrook, Wellington, Fla., and Sheridan, Wyo.
A member of The Jockey Club, he also belonged to numerous other clubs, including The Racquet and Tennis Club (of New York) where he served as president for five years in the late 1970s, the Brook, the Meridian Club (in the Turks and Caicos, where he also served as president), the Mashomack Fish and Game Preserve Club, the Millbrook Golf and Tennis Club, the Fly Fishers of Brooklyn, the New York Farmers, the Tamarack Preserve Club, and the Gulfstream Polo Club.
Besides CCH, Thorne served on numerous corporate boards, including the Bank of Millbrook, the Fiduciary Trust Company, Palmer First National Bank, and the Nine Mile Land and Cattle Co. of Ft. Smith, Mont.
Thorne is survived by his wife of 50 years, Felicitas Selter Thorne of Millbrook; two sons by a prior marriage, Oakleigh (Jacqueline Stahl) of Millbrook; and Henry Fleming (Karen Warcholak) of Pittsburgh; and two children with Felicitas, Jonathan (Jennifer Kennedy) of Millbrook and Eliza (Michael Barnello) of Sharon, Conn. He is also survived by 10 grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be given to the Thorne Building Community Center, P.O. Box 1087, Millbrook, NY, 12545, or The Dutchess Land Conservancy, P.O. Box 138, Millbrook, NY, 12545.
