On June 29, Hunter Nelson Moorman ​of West Tisbury died peacefully at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, ​Boston.

After weeks of European travel, a case of Covid overcame his fragile health. He slipped away, his hand in daughter Anna-Karen’s, without regaining consciousness.  

Hunter was born on October 25, 1942, at West Point, N.Y., to Col. Harold Nelson Moorman and Nancy Ansell Moorman. By age 12, Hunter had circled the globe twice for his father’s postings, with stops along the way in foreign lands. After graduating from Middlesex School, in Concord, and then from Harvard, Hunter carried out his military service in Oberursel, Germany, retiring as a captain.

After a year on the administrative staff of Cranwell School, he hired on with the federal government in Washington DC, managing research and development programs for improving primary and secondary education. There he met and married Leslie Gray (d. 2021), whose love of Martha’s Vineyard led them to move to West Tisbury after retirement.

Accomplished skier, singer, guitarist, linguist, steadfast friend, father, music aficionado, voracious reader, generous host — he was good company, with a wry wit and a warm heart. A particular joy was his German daughter and her family, who lived in Switzerland, and of whom Hunter was inordinately proud.

He maintained cordial friendships from his school years and his long tenure in the federal government. A casual trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, with midwest friends became a decades-long quest to build and improve local libraries and schools by supporting Libros Para Pueblos. After Leslie’s long illness and death, Hunter reconnected with many of these old friends, thankful for rekindled bonds. 

The word “service” best illustrates the unifying principle in all of his efforts — service aimed at making things better. He was a quietly brilliant man, a humble man, who never quite took in the high regard in which he was held, or his power to forge strong, lasting friendships. He was deeply introspective, and believed that self-understanding was crucial to the life well-lived.

After retiring from the federal government, Hunter consulted on school reform issues for nonprofits, which led to rewarding years of chairing the board of directors of Foxfire, Inc., a nonprofit formed to preserve Appalachian Mountain culture and heritage. In the public sector, he directed a national leadership development program in association with OECD in Paris. His dedication to Middlesex, including a term as alumni association president, was recognized the May before his death by the presentation of their Service to Alumni award.

After a stint at private consultation, a stroke of serendipity brought to Hunter’s attention the West Tisbury efforts to raise funds for a major library renovation. Never before a fundraiser, he learned by doing. He became the chairman of the West Tisbury Library Foundation, and the new library became a reality through the foundation’s wholehearted labors.

Sharing his years of experience with several of the Island’s nonprofits was rewarding work. He added new friendships to old and considered himself a rich man.

Still, the ordeal of Leslie’s long illness and death and the numbing grief and implacable sense of loss remained his companions, moderating only with the passage of time. To accommodate his new role of widower without losing himself to the incapacities of age, he promised to live his life more fully with each passing year. He would simply be himself, a man with an engaging smile, a contagious joy in being and an optimistic outlook.

He will be dearly missed by those he leaves behind, including his sisters, Anne Reeves (Ron) of Wilbur by the Sea, Fla.; Susan Southworth (Gus) of Enfield, N.H.; daughter Anna-Karen Lentz (Steffen) of Hemmetschweil, Switzerland; granddaughters Alicia and Chiara Lentz; and stepson James Wallace of Bangkok, Thailand, as well as a host of nephews and nieces.

Friends are invited to the interment to be held on Sept. 30 at 2 p.m. at the West Tisbury Village Cemetery, followed by a gathering at 106 Panhandle Road to share memories.

Contributions may be made to an organization of your choice.