Benjamin Neff Hayward, 85, formerly of Radnor, an investment adviser and retired U.S. Marine Corps captain with a passion for outdoor pursuits, died Thursday, May 13, of a heart attack at White Horse Village, a continuing care community in Newtown Square.
For all of Mr. Hayward’s endeavors and successes, the one constant was the care he showed people and the impact he had on them, said his wife, Marge Hayward.
“Everyone loved to talk to Ben. He listened intently and made you feel that everything you said was important,” she said. “He knew how to listen to people. Everyone wanted to know Ben.”
Mr. Hayward was born in El Paso, Texas, the younger of two sons of Benjamin Neff Hayward Sr. and Helen Lucille McKee Hayward. His family moved to Abilene when he was 3. But his father died when he was 11, and he and his mother moved to Phoenix.
In high school, Mr. Hayward showed talent in basketball and baseball and several colleges sought to recruit him. However, he accepted a Navy ROTC scholarship and attended the University of Colorado, Boulder. In 1958, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and received his commission as a Marine Corps officer. Afterward, he married his college sweetheart, Angela Shiner, and they had two children — a boy and a girl. He retired from the Marines with the rank of captain, USMC Reserve.
After leaving the service, Mr. Hayward began working as a packaged-good product manager at Procter & Gamble, Bristol Myers Squibb, and at the Scott Paper Co. His career took his family to Cincinnati, New York City, St. Louis, New Canaan, Conn., and finally Radnor in the 1970s.
Pennsylvania suited Mr. Hayward, an avid sportsman and outdoorsman. He enjoyed fly fishing, grouse hunting, skiing, cycling, and sailing. He introduced his young family to backpacking — a carefree kind of traveling that was deemed different enough in the 1970s that they were featured in a local publication.
Shortly after moving to Radnor, Mr. Hayward left the corporate world and began a career as a stockbroker and investment adviser. He and his wife divorced in the early 1990s.
In 1997, Mr. Hayward married his longtime administrative assistant. They lived in Radnor for 20 years before moving to White Horse Village in 2016. The couple enjoyed gardening and taking trips to San Francisco, Montreal, Québec City, Montana, Stowe, Lake Placid, Santa Fe, Taos, Hilton Head, and Bethany Beach.
Family was very important to Mr. Hayward. He nurtured close relationships with his son, John Kenyon Hayward, and daughter, Patricia Lynn Hayward. He was proud to be “Pappy” to his grandchildren and “Great Pappy” to his great-grandchild.
In addition to his wife, son, and daughter, Mr. Hayward is survived by four grandchildren, a great-grandchild, his former wife, and other relatives. His brother and parents died earlier.
A private service will be Sunday, June 20. Internment will be at the Washington Memorial Chapel Churchyard, Valley Forge.
Contributions in Mr. Hayward’s memory may be made to the Semper Fi and America’s Fund, 825 College Blvd., Suite 102, PMB 609, Oceanside, Calif. 92057.
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