David Butler Vietor, died peacefully at home in Edgartown, on February 8, after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
Born in New Haven, Conn. on January, 1,1942, to Anna Glen Butler Vietor and Alexander Orr Vietor, he grew up in New Haven and attended the Foote School. Each summer the Vietor family would relocate to Edgartown, where his father taught both David at the age of 8, and his brother to sail in their first boat, “Neptune” (built by Manuel Schwartz in Edgartown) which began his life-long passion for sailing and yacht racing. Over the years, David won virtually every trophy offered by the Edgartown Yacht Club in many different types of boats and levels of competition: beach boats, 110’s, Seamanship Awards, and SYMRA championships. A life spent around and on the water would define him.
He went on to graduate from St. Paul’s School in the Class of ‘59, Yale University in ‘63 and he received his masters in German Literature from Stanford University in1965. He was a lifelong historian, an erudite man who read deeply and enjoyed long conversations with many like minded friends.
David was always talented in languages, becoming proficient in Spanish, German and Russian and he began his career teaching German and Russian at Boston University and later at the Choate School. But his true calling came after successfully racing the family’s boats named “Orpheus”. He was hired to work for Ted Hood at Hood Sails, and soon was brought on board various winning yachts as an astute sail trimmer, navigator and tactician. Hard put to turn down a customer’s request to join the crew, one Bermuda Race he famously was listed as part of the crew on five boats! He went on to race in 16 other Bermuda races as well as several Trans Atlantics, most notably on “Ondine” and “Congere”. He was often part of a U.S. Team competing in Dragons, 6 Metres, or Solings all over the world. He moved from Hood Sails to become President of Ratsey and Lapthorn where this pattern of intense racing continued, leading to The America’s Cup. David did two America’s Cup campaigns in 12 Metres: the 1980 “Clipper” effort as tactician and skipper and as CEO of the “Courageous” effort for 1987. He became a founding member of The Courageous Sailing Center in Boston, which teaches underprivileged children the skills of sailing and boat handling as a foundation for life.
After leaving Ratsey, he became Director of the Acorn Foundation. Here he became deeply involved in many philanthropic activities including producing winning documentaries about the history of the City of New York. He served on the board of the South Street Seaport Museum and the President’s Council at Mystic Seaport, where the Vietor family has a long history.
Retiring to the Vineyard, he became part of many pro bono organizations including serving on the board of the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and as president of the Duke’s County Historical Society. But he always kept up his enthusiasm for racing, be it every other summer to Bermuda, every spring to Ensenada, or every August as tactician on board “American Eagle”. His happiest days were spent in the company of other sailors who always enjoyed his enthusiastic retelling of close calls and dramatic decisions on the race course, no matter how many times they had heard them before. In his last years he became a keen observer of the local racing scene and was often sought out after the race to critique it.
A recent article about David which appeared in The Sailfish Club Lines, included this quote from Tom Whidden, a world famous yachtsman. “David is a well-respected Corinthian sailor, an avid competitor with the highest integrity, always the consummate gentleman, and one of the nicest guys in the sailing world.” That says it all!
He is survived by his wife, Nancy Blair Vietor, whom he met on a port starboard collision 71 years ago, his sons Andreas, Oliver, and Ed Vietor, his daughters Susan Vietor Daughtry and Christina Vietor Osterman, his step-children Marshall Highet Prida and Ethan Trask, and 16 grandchildren.
His brothers Richard and Sandy and his sisters, Louise V. Oliver, Polly V. Sheehan and Martha V. Glass also survive him.
He was a well-respected and much admired member of the waterfront community on the Vineyard as well as being a member of the Edgartown Yacht Club, The Chappaquiddick Beach Club, The Edgartown Reading Room, the Edgartown Golf Club, and the New York Yacht Club.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his name to the Martha’s Vineyard Museum’s Cooke House Garden’s Atlantic Neptune Panel(mvmuseum.org/chgdonate), Mystic Seaport’s CCA floating dock project (https://checkout.mysticseaport.org/all/donate/details/181), Hospice of MV ( hospiceofmv.org/donations), or to the newly established David B. Vietor Seamanship Fund at The Courageous Sailing Center in Boston (courageoussailing.org/donate).