Obituary: Rowland Tompkins Bankes, Sr., 83, Of Brookfield

Information and Photo Courtesy Cornell Memorial Home

BROOKFIELD, CT — Mr. Rowland Tompkins Bankes, Sr., age 83, of Brookfield passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, July 20, 2023. He was the husband of the late Pauline Anne (Trigg) Bankes.

Mr. Bankes was born September 14, 1939, in Southampton, NY, and was the son of the late Ralph Albert and Ruth Mead (Tompkins) Bankes. He grew up in Garden City, NY, graduating from Garden City High School in 1957 where he was a member of the School Citizenship Board, played basketball and was an accomplished tennis player. He loved to dance and enjoyed and maintained close friendships with many of his Garden City classmates. In 1961, Mr. Bankes graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, MA, with a degree in economics and was a proud brother of Delta Upsilon Mr. Bankes proudly served his country as an officer in the United States Navy from April 1962 to April 1965, and was on the Fort Snelling LSD during the Cuba Missile crisis in 1962.

Mr. Bankes dedicated much of his professional career to the business his grandfather founded, Rowland Tompkins Corporation, an industrial piping and air conditioning company headquartered in Hawthorne, NY. He was a proud American, a notary public, and a member of the Congregational Church of Brookfield.

Mr. Bankes is survived by his three children: Kimberly Bankes Welton and her husband Guy of Ridgefield; Rowland T. “Chip” Bankes, Jr. and his wife Missie of Boxford, MA; and Elizabeth Bankes Dias and her husband Kenneth of Easton. He is also survived by his sister Barbara Bankes Cunningham of Stowe, VT; his brother Russell Kistler Bankes and his wife Joann of Havertown, PA; and his 5 grandchildren: Tyler, Courtney, Peter, Jennifer, and Alexander. He was predeceased by his brother Ralph Albert Bankes, Jr., his sister-in-law Alison Bankes, and his brother-in-law John Cunningham.

Funeral services will be held on Sept. 23 at 10 a.m. at the Congregational Church of Brookfield. Interment with full Navy honors will immediately follow in the church’s Memorial Wall. There are no calling hours. The Cornell Memorial Home, 247 White St., Danbury, is in charge of arrangements.

Memorial contributions may be made to Wounded Warrior Project or the Veterans of Foreign Wars.