Paul B. Wilson

Paul Brest Wilson of Foxhill Village, 10 Longwood Drive, Westwood, Massachusetts died at home on Wednesday, December 14, 2011, just five days short of his 96th birthday.  He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Ruth Diehl Wilson; his daughter, Judith L. Caruso, of Westwood, Massachusetts and her husband, Richard; his son, Hon. Geoffrey A. Wilson, of Bernardston, Massachusetts and his partner, Eve Blakeslee; and by his two grand-daughters, Katharine R. Wilson of Stuyvesant, New York; and Anne G. Wilson of Amherst, Massachusetts.

Mr. Wilson was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania on December 19, 1915, the son of Ralph and Sarah Brest Wilson.  After his mother died when he was two years old, he and his brother, the late Harry O. Wilson of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, were raised by their maternal grandparents. He graduated from Sharon High School in 1933 and Westminster College in West Middlesex, Pennsylvania in 1941.

After being released from war-related work at Westinghouse Electric Company, he served in the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 as an officer in the intelligence service, and then  held positions at Raytheon Company in Waltham, Massachusetts and at the Elizabeth Arden cosmetic company in New York City.  In 1954 he returned to Raytheon as Director of Purchasing, and left that position in 1962 to become the Group Vice President at Gorham Corporation in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was responsible for that company’s electronics and bronze divisions.  Subsequently he became a vice president at Nortek Corporation and served until 1974 as President of its subsidiary, Rock of Ages Corporation, which operates granite quarries and a finishing plant in Barre, Vermont.

In that year, Mr. Wilson and a partner purchased a controlling interest in the Sheidow and Williamsburg Bronze Corporations in Kingwood, West Virginia, which they operated successfully, along with several subsequent acquisitions, as Colonial Guild, Limited until 1998, when the enterprise was sold to the York Group and Mr. Wilson retired to his homes in Massachusetts and in Palm City, Florida.

A memorial service will be held at a later date.  Rather than flowers, contributions are encouraged to either the Preston Memorial Hospital, 300 South Price Street, Kingwood, West Virginia 26537 or to the Friends of the Westwood Library, 668 High Street, Westwood, Massachusetts 02090.