Benjamin W. Nason

Benjamin W. Nason passed away peacefully at the end of July following a brief illness. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Rita A. Nason, and his three children, Tami Nason, Heidi Nason Hawk and her husband, Daryl Hawk, and Douglas Nason and his wife, Josephine McCarthy Nason, and his three grandchildren Justin Hawk, Brandon Hawk and Caitlin Nason.

Ben was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1933. He spent his formative years in Foxborough, where he attended high school. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) in 1954 with a degree in Forestry. Having completed ROTC during college, Ben served as a First Lieutenant in the United States Army, stationed in Germany during the Korean War.

After completing his military service, Ben and Rita made the move to Bethlehem, New Hampshire where Ben worked as a forester in the White Mountain National Forest. He would eventually move to Boston to study law, graduating from Suffolk University Law School and beginning a career in environmental law.

Aside from his family, Ben's proudest accomplishment was the founding of the Conservation Law Foundation in 1966 to prevent the development of Mount Greylock in Western Massachusetts. CLF, which now operates in all six New England states, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016. An environmentalist his entire life Ben dedicated himself to land preservation and the protection of wildlife.

His family plans to hold a private memorial service at a later date. 

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