Henry Day Brigham, mutual fund executive

HENRY DAY BRIGHAM

Henry Day Brigham, Jr., a Boston mutual fund executive, died Aug. 12 at Youville Hospital in Cambridge of pneumonia. He was 81.

Mr. Brigham, who went by Day, was born in Pittsfield and graduated from the Taft School in Connecticut in 1944. He was accepted to Yale University, but joined the Navy V-12 Program for accelerated officer training. He was first assigned to Williams College and then to the College of the Holy Cross, said his son, Johan of Boston.

He earned undergraduate and law degrees from Yale and then went back to the Navy, where he served as chief legal officer on the USS Pittsburgh and USS Wisconsin.

Mr. Brigham started his career at New York City law firms before moving to Boston in 1966. In Boston, he was vice president, general counsel, and then president of Eaton & Howard. The company merged with Vance, Sanders & Co. in 1979 to form Eaton Vance, a financial services company, where he served as chairman of the firm's executive committee. He held that position until his retirement in 1996.

Mr. Brigham was an active member of the Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill. He cofounded the Chestnut Hill Association, which helped in the designation of the area as a historic district. He also belonged to The Country Club of Brookline, the Somerset Club, and the Society of Colonial Wars.

Mr. Brigham, who played hockey in high school and college, coached his son's teams and played the game into his 70s on a weekly basis. He loved the camaraderie with his teammates and the exercise, said his son.

Mr. Brigham spent time with a lot of people from different backgrounds, his son said. "The best thing about him was that he could get along with everybody," he said.

He was also a passionate activist for land preservation in the Penobscot Bay area.

"He had grown up summering on the beach and fell in love with the place," his son said. "He loved the natural beauty and wanted to preserve as much as possible."

In addition to his son, he leaves his wife of 46 years, Catherine (Van't Hul) of Chestnut Hill; two other sons, Henry of Baltimore and Alexander of Phoenix; a brother, Peter of Philadelphia; seven grandsons; and one granddaughter.

A memorial service will be held at 2p.m. today at the Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill.