In Memoriam: Norm Hadley

Middlebury notes the death of Norm Hadley, a retiree who died on September 5, 2016. Hadley started his career with the College on January 3, 1966, when he was hired as assistant to the comptroller. In 1968, he was promoted to assistant comptroller, and in 1970 Hadley was again promoted, this time to director of data processing, the position he held until his retirement in 1996.

Tom Cutter, a member of the Information Technology Services team, said, “Norm is the reason I am at Middlebury. In 1993 I was an IBM Customer Engineer and Middlebury was one of my accounts where I worked on the AS400 and the handful of PC’s that existed at the time. After working together in this capacity for a while Norm extended a job offer to me to come work in what was Administrative Computing. Seeing the way his [Norm’s] area was run, his keen interest in new technology and the way the IT staff respected his leadership sealed the deal and convinced me to come to Middlebury. I will always owe him a debt of gratitude for the opportunity to build my career here.”

Tom Corbin, assistant dreasurer and director of business services, said that Hadley was great at “finding the best simple solution to a problem, like developing our first id card checking system for the dining halls” and that he had “a gift for finding people with the right raw talent and then helping them become programmers and computer techs.”

Julie Tumminia-Tomsuden, senior programmer analyst, remembered Hadley “as a kind man who was very proud of his sons. He was quite an athlete and even bicycled to the top of a very high volcanic mountain when he visited Hawaii. The last time I saw him, he was enjoying a men’s post-season basketball game at the Peterson Family Athletic Complex.”

Hadley was a Vermont native who attended Williston Academy and then graduated from the University of Vermont in 1959. He is survived by his wife Linda and their five sons: Jeff, Bruce, Dale, Ken, and Phillip.