Ethelyn Chase devoted much of her life to poetry and literature, including a term as president of the Academy of American Poets and as a trustee of the New York Society Library, the city’s oldest.
She established the Ethelyn Chase Fund for Poetry at the library in 2011, which funded the purchase of hundreds of books for its collection. She also donated poetry books from her personal collection, and the fund underwrote many poetry-related readings and lectures.
Anthony Hecht, a renowned poet and critic, dedicated the Academy of American Poets’ 60th Anniversary celebration booklet to Ms. Chase with these words: “It is only the beginning of justice to claim that she has labored with unflagging energy, cheerfulness, and dazzling success to advance the cause of our nation’s poetry, as well as the poetry of other nations, in ways for which all poets, as well as all readers of poetry, cannot fail to be grateful.”
Ethelyn (Lyn) Atha Chase, who had a residence in East Hampton from 1955 to 2023, died in Manhattan on Sept. 3 at the age of 99.
She was born on November 30, 1923, in Kansas City, Mo., to Joseph S. Atha and the former Ethel Shufflebotham. She grew up in that city, leaving to attend Smith College in Northampton, Mass. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1944, she settled in New York City.
Four years later, she married Edward Tinsley (Ned) Chase, a book editor and writer who worked for The New Yorker magazine and many publishing houses. He died in 2005.
In East Hampton, Ms. Chase served on the board of the Maidstone Club, as president of the Garden Club of East Hampton, and as an honorary trustee of the Village Preservation Society of East Hampton. She was also a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church here.
A onetime president of the Junior League of New York City, she devoted more than a quarter of a century to the field of social welfare, serving on the Citizens Advisory Board to the Department of Social Services under three mayors, as well as on the boards of the Community Service Society, the Community Council of Greater New York, and the New York Y.W.C.A.
In 1996, Ms. Chase received the Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She was also a chairwoman of the Patrons Committee of the Metropolitan Opera and served on the boards of the American Composers Orchestra, the Glimmerglass Opera, and the New York Botanical Garden.
She is survived by her daughters, Cynthia Chase of Ithaca, N.Y., and Daphne Rowe of Bryn Mawr, Pa. Other survivors include a nephew, Mark Merriman, and four grandchildren, Natalie Smith, Chase Davidson Smith, Lucy Rowe, and William Culler-Chase.
A celebration of her life will be held at a later date.
