Hooker Talcott ’54

Hooker died peacefully July 22, 2021, two days after his 89th birthday. 

He came to us from St. Paul’s School, where he was active in football, hockey, and glee club. At Princeton he majored in English, joined Ivy Club, played varsity hockey and rugby, and was a football manager. 

After Army service in Germany, he joined J.P. Morgan, Talcott National Corp., and John Hancock (Boston), where he saw and seized the opportunity of high-yield investing. In the 1980s at investment management firm Eaton Vance, he launched and led a group managing top-ranked mutual funds.

A true sportsman, Hooker and his wife, Jane McCurrach, raised their family in Brookline, Mass., with easy access to skiing, bird shooting, fishing in Lower Waterford, Vt., and sailing at Martha’s Vineyard. He wielded racquets everywhere, including Boston’s Union Boat Club, where he was president from 1968 to 1971. In Brookline he was active in his church and spent happy hours tending his garden.

He retired in 1997 to pursue his primary interest in conservation and the environment. He supported the Connecticut River Conservancy and the Trustees of Reservations, among other such organizations. Cultural pursuits (music, art, literature, especially history) and traveling were all important to him and Jane. A man of many enthusiasms, he conveyed them all to his offspring.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Jane; daughters Julia, Barbara ’83, and Margaret ’86; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.