Christopher Chandler

Christopher Emmet Chandler died in Concord, VT, on December 9, 2017, of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), a rare, degenerative, invariably fatal brain disorder. The disease strikes one in a million each year. Christopher was 58.

Christopher was born on February 8, 1959, in New York City, along with his twin sister, Julie Temple Chandler. Eight weeks premature, Christopher clocked in at about two pounds, spending his first couple of months in an incubator. But as was always his way, he overcame the obstacles in his path and grew strong, tall, and healthy, eventually towering over almost every other member of his family.

Growing up in Lyndon Center, VT, Christopher was surrounded by friends, and was known for giving his all to both work and play. He played trumpet, was on the Lyndon Institute basketball team, and also was an avid chess player. Christopher was social and outgoing, truly a team player on every level. He studied English at the University of Vermont, graduating with departmental honors in 1981, and then went on to a long and fruitful financial career, first in Boston, then San Francisco, then New York City, and finally in southern California, where he spent nearly two decades at Charles Schwab, first as a manager of the San Diego branch and later as Vice President, Financial Consultant of the La Jolla branch. Christopher was dedicated to his clients, approaching his work with the utmost attention and integrity. He leaves behind a roster of clients dedicated to him in return, many of whom also count him as a personal friend.

It was during the decade he spent in San Francisco that Christopher met his wife, Mireya Schmidt, while dancing. The pair fell in love quickly and deeply, becoming engaged after four weeks of courtship, and were married on Lake Willoughby in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom on August 21, 1993. Their two children, Nicholas Emmet Chandler, 23, and Natasha Mireya Chandler, 22, were born in rapid succession, and Christopher happily settled into fatherhood and family life. In fact, Christopher had always been strongly family-oriented, choosing to spend vacations with close-knit extended family and returning to his childhood home in the Northeast Kingdom to spend precious summer weeks with his dearest friends, siblings, and numerous cousins. The Northeast Kingdom was Christopher’s happiest place, and when he was diagnosed with CJD, he immediately returned there to stay.

Anyone who knew him, from acquaintances to his closest friends, would describe Christopher as a man marked by loyalty and honesty. He was a deeply loving man who was deeply loved in return, and the throng of family and friends who flew to be by his side after his diagnosis last spring are a testament to that. As his health deteriorated, his personality distilled to its sweet, loving essence. Even in the final weeks of his life, he was able to recite the scout’s law -- a creed he learned as a young boy -- in its entirety: “A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.” With the possible exception of the last (one could only call his sense of humor “irreverent”), Christopher was all of these things to the very end.

Christopher was predeceased by his parents, Elizabeth Stackelberg Shulman and Gail Ellsworth Chandler, and his father-in-law, Donald Schmidt. He is survived by his devoted wife and partner, Mireya Schmidt, his son, Nico Chandler, and his daughter, Natasha Chandler; his twin, Julie Chandler Sweidan, and his half-siblings, Naomi Shulman, Helen Chandler, and Matthew Shulman; his loving stepparents Gail Waldron Chandler, Alvin Shulman, and Gloria Young (who referred to him as her “number-one son”); his mother-in-law, Mireya Moreno Saavedra Schmidt; his sister-in-law, Erika Arquilla, and her family; and his brothers-in-law, Michael Schmidt and Kenneth Schmidt, and their respective families. Christopher’s dear friends Brett and Amy Gale, who took Christopher and Mireya into their home in Christopher’s final months, also survive him, as do his many Stackelberg cousins, who rallied around him all summer and fall. One of Christopher’s favorite movies was It’s a Wonderful Life, a story of another man who bore some terrible twists of fate, and yet recognized himself to be the richest man in town. Christopher Chandler loved his friends and family with his whole heart. They loved him right back every bit as much, and then some.

A memorial service will take place on December 27 at 7:00 pm at the Church of the Ascension, Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street, New York City, followed by a reception and celebration of Christopher’s life at The Warren, 131 Christopher Street, New York City.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Christopher’s memory at the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation, cjdfoundation.org/donate.

Condolences may be shared with the family at www.guibordfh.com.