March 5, 2017
MBL Trustee Emeritus Christopher M. Weld passed away on March 5, 2017. Mr. Weld served on the MBL Campaign Steering Committee from 1996-2000, was a member of the Council of Visitors (1993-1994) and served as MBL Trustee from 1997 to 2012. He was named an Emeritus Trustee in 2013.
An obituary provided by his family is below.
WELD, Christopher Minot Lawyer, Sportsman & Conservationist Of Essex, died on March 5th at Massachusetts General Hospital. A graduate of St. Marks School, Harvard College and University of Virginia Law School, Weld joined the firm of Sullivan & Worcester in Boston in 1959. He became a partner in 1966 and the Managing Partner in 1978. Weld’s interest in fishing and conservation led him to co-found the National Coalition for Marine Conservation, now Wild Oceans, dedicated to the conservation of ocean fishes and the marine environment.
Weld served as its Secretary until 1983 when he was elected President and became Chairman in 1994. He also founded the Marine Recreational Symposium, an annual conference of scientists, graduate students, fishermen, government employees and conservationists, serving on its Steering Committee from its inception. Starting with the Nixon Administration, Weld received Presidential appointments to the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee to the Secretary of Commerce, the New England Fisheries Management Council, the National Sea Grant Advisory Board, the Advisory Committee to the Secretary of State on the Law of the Seas, and the Advisory Committee to the U.S. delegation to the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna. He also served on the Massachusetts Fisheries Advisory Commission, the New York Bight Marine Ecosystems Analysis Project and the American League of Anglers and on the Board of Directors of the International Atlantic Salmon Foundation, the Center for Marine Conservation, the Coast Alliance, the Quebec-Labrador Foundation and most recently the Marine Biological Laboratory.
Big game fishing took him to many parts of the world in pursuit of marlin, tuna, swordfish and tarpon. He fished extensively in Florida, the Bahamas, the Sea of Cortez, the Indian Ocean, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and Georges Bank. A hunting enthusiast, Weld was a founding member of the Miles River Marsh Rats and hunted in Europe and Africa. Chris Weld was born in Dedham, MA on July 20, 1932, son of Francis Minot Weld and Elizabeth Burgess Weld. He leaves his wife of sixty-two years, Susanna Boocock Weld, children Linzee Weld of Maine, Amory Weld of Rhode Island, and Minot Weld and Kate Weld both of Massachusetts and six grandchildren. Services held at a later date.