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Michael George Sandmann

Michael George Sandmann, of Haddam, died Feb. 6. He was born in Danzig, East Prussia, May 16, 1937, to Anneliese “Anusch” and Manfred “Freddy” Sandmann on the eve of World War II.

Sent by Kindertransport (“Childrens Train”) to England in 1939, he reunited with his parents in 1941 when the family moved to Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1948 Manfred accepted the Kingston College Romance Languages Chair in the Crown Colony of Jamaica, where Mike spent the balance of his childhood. Accepted early to Clare College, Cambridge (UK), Mike opted instead to enlist in the Royal Air Force. He was a radioman on a Shackleton Mk3 reconnaissance aircraft with the 38th squadron based in Malta; the aircraft was destroyed during a mission in the 1956 Suez Crisis, killing all but two crewmen.

Upon leaving the R.A.F., Mike attended Clare College at Cambridge, graduating BA Hons. (Cantab.) in 1960. Soon thereafter he emigrated to the United States, where he met the love of his life and wife of 50 years, Nancy A. Johnson Sandmann. Mike and Nancy raised their three sons, George, David, and Phillip in Brussels, Belgium, where Mike led the Travelers Insurance Company’s European operations from 1970-1988. In 1993 Mike and Nancy returned to Brussels where Mike established Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western Europe.

In 1999 Mike and Nancy retired to Maryland’s eastern shore, where they lived until Nancy’s death in 2012. His son Phillip also lived in Easton until his death in 2009. While in Easton, Maryland, Mike and Nancy were active members of Christ Episcopal Church. Mike also participated in the founding, funding, and roll-out of the Talbot County School District’s “One-to-One Laptop Initiative,” which helped shape an innovative learning community and improve the life of high school students.

In 2013 Mike moved to Haddam, where he died peacefully in his sleep on Feb. 6. Even in failing health, to the end he could quip in four languages and quote Shakespeare, Yeats, and his beloved Churchill. He is survived by his son George, his son David and daughter-in-law Kate, and five devoted grandchildren, Kaitlin, Natalie, Luke, Jack, and Will. Mike loved humor, music, good food and spirits, cooking, traveling, sailing, reading, his Border Collie dogs, and the Italian Dolomites, but most of all he loved his family. Widely loved, Dad, Pop-Pop, Mike is already missed by many.

The family will hold a private cemetery service in May. For those wishing to contribute in his memory, the Mike Sandmann Memorial Fund has been established at the Alzheimer’s Association website www.alz.org. Dad, What a life. “A la vôtre!”