Jared Harrington Dickens

 

Died January 26, 2001

College: Saybrook

Children: Brian; Wesley; Sarah; Laura

Jared was a close friend at the Columbus (Ohio) Academy, and from the beginning of our friendship I recognized that he would be one of the most multi-talented and memorable people I would ever know. Jared displayed a combative, skeptical quality of mind that turned humdrum classes into exciting encounters for teachers as well as even the most pedestrian classmates, a pattern that continued for professors and fellow students. Jared was a leader in many ways, and his passionately contrarian temperament kept everyone on his toes, mentally, socially, emotionally. He had an exceptionally analytic cast of mind, and he could expose amusing and ironic aspects of practically any topic.

His attitude must have been dramatically evident in his often stellar if also rocky business career, for Jared accepted unusually daunting challenges in his career. Jared had a talent for taking on difficult tasks, often with no roadmap or guidebook to chart his course, so his pioneering spirit was a blessing as he shouldered enormous corporate responsibilities requiring consistent leadership and decisive action. He had to endure extraordinary, relentless stresses and navigate quicksand-like terrains that highly talented corporate leaders must sometimes tread, like it or not. Jared acknowledged that all of these tensions exacted significant tolls on his stamina, especially when the careers and livelihood of so many others depended upon his decisions. His occasional messages – characteristically terse and ironic in tone, transmitted in our monthly class notes — reported that after he moved to Texas he counted himself among those lucky to be still working – and, no doubt, keeping his colleagues on their toes!

—by Richard Lacey