In Memory of A. Spencer Jennings, longtime Greenwich resident. “Spence” as he was fondly known, passed away peacefully at the age of 89 from natural causes on April 2 surrounded by loved ones.
Born in White Plains, NY to Addison and Margery Jennings, and raised in Glen Cove, Long Island, Spencer was an Eagle Scout who had the experience of a lifetime at age 14 attending the International Boy Scout Jamboree in France right after the end of WWII. Spencer went on to graduate from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1958 as an officer, a captain on the Tall Ships, a baseball player and an award-winning marksman.
He began his career path as a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch in Stamford and then became a trust officer at Putnam Trust Bank where he worked with his close friend, the late Don Blair.
Spencer married Marilyn Miller and raised two daughters in Greenwich where he was a member of the YMCA , the Rotary Club and the First Presbyterian Church. He enjoyed volunteering with the Sea Scouts refurbishing boats and teaching young people how to sail.
By the late 1970’s, Spencer began a long run as a commercial real estate broker with Abrams, Benisch & Riker in Manhattan. Spencer challenged himself to learn how to fly small airplanes and enjoyed taking off from Sikorsky Memorial Airport and flying over Long Island Sound to Block Island and beyond. Spencer retired at the young age of 52 and moved to New Hampshire where he enjoyed a home in the Eastman community of Grantham. He was an avid skier, sailor, pilot, windsurfer, hiker and mountain biker who was most comfortable in the great outdoors.
Spencer is survived by his daughter, Allison Jennings and her partner, Robert Nowinski of Connecticut, daughter Laurie Jennings and her husband, Joshua Salman, twin grandsons, Luke and Jake Salman, and his life partner, Saralyn Hastings of New Hampshire.
Memorial donations can be made to The Jack Byrne Hospice Center in Hanover, NH or The YMCA of Greenwich.
