Edward Tipton (Tip) Kenyon died on Sunday, Jan. 22 after a brief stay in the Parlin Hospice in Wayland. He had lived at Fox Hill Village in Westwood since 2007, and before that on Abel’s Hill in Chilmark since 1997. Prior to living year round on Abel’s Hill he had summered there and elsewhere on the Vineyard for his entire life.

Among Tip’s proudest endeavors were his establishment of the first commercial trash collection service in Chilmark and West Tisbury, with an old Ford and a trailer, circa 1944, along with the many years he spent competing in sailboat races on Menemsha Pond with his wife, Kit, as his capable crew.

Early summers were spent at his father’s home, Old Adam’s Place, in West Tisbury. In later years he spent time at Barn House in Chilmark, before acquiring a home on Abel’s Hill in 1957.

He was born in Summit, N.J., on Jan. 27, 1929 to Theodore Stanwood Kenyon and Martha Tipton Kenyon, the youngest sibling of Stan and Madge. He attended Harvard College (class of 1950), and Columbia Law School (class of 1953). His career was spent practicing law in Summit at the firm of Bourne Knoll & Kenyon.

Tip and Kit married on July 11, 1953, a few short months after meeting as neighbors on the upper east side of Manhattan. Tip was studying law, and Kit nursing. They moved to Washington, D.C. in 1954, where Tip, who had joined the Army Medical Corps, worked at Walter Reade Hospital and spent time working on Eisenhower’s election team. In short order they moved back to Summit and began raising their four sons.

Tip devoted tremendous time and energy to public service. For many years he sat on the boards of the Overlook Hospital Foundation in Summit, where he was president from 1981 to 1984, and the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. He devoted time to the Trinity-Pawling School, the Pingry School, the Central Presbyterian Church of Summit, the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury, the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust and the Chilmark planning board, among many other public service organizations. In 1990 he was honored as the New Jersey Tri-County United Way Man of the Year.

Tip’s great passions were his family and sailing. For years he cruised the waters around New England on the Quitsabel, a 29-foot sloop, with Kit, four rambunctious boys and a large Labrador named Morgan. Family togetherness trumped spatial limitations. In later years he enjoyed cruising the waters of Maine and the Caribbean with close friends. He was known as the steady skipper who specialized in preparing breakfast for the crew.

On July 11, 2013, Kit and Tip, joined by many family members, observed their 60th wedding anniversary. Kit died on Jan. 21, 2014.

Tip is survived by his sons, Ted, Jon and his wife Ceci, Jim and his wife Susan, and David and his wife Jone; grandchildren Robbie, Charlie and Martha, Kelly and Sam, Mary and Will, and Henry and Julia; and great-grandchild Wiley.

A gathering of friends and family was held at Fox Hill in Westwood on Jan. 28.

A memorial service will be held at the Central Presbyterian Church in Summit, N.J., on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 11 a.m. Memorial contributions can be made to Planned Parenthood or the Alzheimer’s Foundation.