Edward N. "Nick" Chase

WORCESTER - Edward N. “Nick” Chase, age 85, a longtime resident of Worcester, MA, passed away peacefully at UMASS Memorial Medical Center on Friday, May 9, 2025, after a brief hospitalization. He was the husband of the late Roberta S. Chase who died in October 2023. Born in Concord, MA on March 22, 1940, Nick was the son of the late Edward P. and Hope D. Chase. He graduated from Concord High School in 1958 and continued his education at Harvard University, graduating in 1962 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics. While at Harvard, he developed an interest in computers and computer programming and took courses in those areas. Immediately after graduation he started his long career in the computer/programing field that later developed into the broader scope of Information Technology. From 1962 to 1973 he was employed as a civilian contractor for the United States Air Force, Information Systems at Hanscom Field AFB, Bedford Ma. He then moved to Data General Corporation as a programmer and progressed to increasingly responsible positions leading to management in Information Systems. At that point he decided he had had enough of corporate life and politics and found his “dream job” in 1981, managing Assumption College’s fledgling Computer services department. He retired from Assumption in 2002, content with having guided the University in developing its IT infrastructure during the explosive growth period in that area.

Nick was well known in the Worcester community as a Radio Host of several local Classical Music shows at radio stations WCUW and WICN. He also worked extensively with the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra assisting with production and fundraising. He was never too busy to help those less technically inclined when they needed his assistance in all areas of technical production management. It can be said that Nick “marched to the tune of a different drummer.” He was a late convert to Judaism and was active in Temple Emanuel Sinai Worcester. In his retirement years, he lived the life he wanted, focusing on his wife, their many dogs, and his favorite hobbies that included radio programming, the Orchestra, and painstaking management of his Day Lilly garden and registry. He also spent many hours with his stamp collection, inherited from his father and grandfather. Those who knew him will remember a gentle soul with a keen mind, a voracious reader of all things technical, and a holder of decidedly sharp political opinions.

During Nick’s last two years, he fought the loss of his wife Bobbie and the increasing debilitating effects of cancer. He fought his physical decline to the end, refusing to give up his independence and control of his life.

He was predeceased by his older sister, Elizabeth Hurlbut. Nick is survived by his brother Sam and wife Candace, nieces Jennifer Chase and Allison Bartolini and her husband Leo and children Charlotte, Violet, and Payson, and Chris Hurlbut and her children Nikki and Sophie, and Hope Booth.

Services will be private. Funeral Arrangements are being handled by the Miles Funeral Home, 1158 Main St., Holden. To share a memory or offer a condolence, please visit his guestbook.