Henry Hanson Obituary

Henry Nicholas "Nick" Hanson Jr.

Dec 18, 1943 - Feb 13, 2023

Charlottesville, VA

Henry Nicholas "Nick" Hanson Jr. passed away peacefully Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, in Charlottesville, Virginia, his home with his wife Jan (Janice Rogers) for the past 27 years.

Nick was born Dec. 18, 1943, in Hempstead, Long Island, while his father, Henry Nicholas Hanson, was serving in U.S. Army in France and India during World War II. Because of the war, Henry didn't see his son until Nick was two years old. After Nick's father returned from the service, the family lived in Indiana, New Jersey, and New York, before moving to Norwalk in 1960 at the start of Nick's junior year in high school. He received varsity letters in track and excelled in mathematics and physics.

After graduating from Norwalk High School in 1962, Nick attended St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, for his freshman and sophomore years. He transferred to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and went on to receive his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in physics while working summers at the NASA Plumbrook research facility in Sandusky.

Nick was accepted into the doctorate program in physics at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he received his PhD in physics in 1975. He met his wife, Jan, a fellow graduate student who was studying chemistry at Brown. After Nick completed his dissertation, he began teaching at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Nick and Jan were married in Nov., 1975, at Washington National Cathedral, Bethlehem Chapel, in Washington, D.C.

After teaching at Trinity College for two years, Nick moved to New York City where Jan was an editor of science textbooks at several New York City publishers. Nick taught one year at Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York, and spent summers studying Finance at New York University in Manhattan. A professor introduced him to a colleague at Kidder, Peabody & Co., where Nick was hired as a quantitative analyst. Nick and Jan lived in Forest Hills, New York, before moving to Bronxville, New York. Nick was hired as a quantitative analyst at Salomon Brothers and was promoted to Vice President, Derivative & Quantitative Research. Nick worked for Salomon Brothers and other investment firms until his retirement in 1996.

Nick and Jan moved to Charlottesville following his retirement, where Nick continued his interests in computers, the stock market, country music, baseball, hockey, and University of Virginia basketball and golf.

Nick is survived by his wife, Jan; mother-in-law, Mary (Tina) Rogers of Silver Spring, Maryland; brother-in-law, Richard and Jackie Rogers of Spring Hill, Florida; sister, Muriel and Robert Falborn of Sag Harbor, New York; brother, Art Hanson and Cindy Williams of Avon Lake; and many loving friends and cousins.

Nick was preceded in death by his father, Henry Nicholas Hanson in 1971; mother, Muriel Andersen Hanson in 2015; and father-in-law, Jansen Rogers in 1996.