Obituary: C. Robert P. Meyjes
Long time Darien resident C. Robert P. Meyjes passed away peacefully on Feb. 22, in New York City after a long illness. Mr. Meyjes was born in Arnhem, the Netherlands, on June 1, 1932 to Willem Christiaan Posthumus Meyjes and Marthe M. L. V. Meyjes. He and his younger sister Christine spent their early years in Amsterdam but the family was forced to flee to England after the invasion of Holland in May, 1940. The trip entailed a harrowing escape through France, Spain and Portugal in a battered 1939 Buick that survived hitting a goat, flipping several times and losing its windshield.
Mr. Meyjes and his sister spent time in London, including enduring the infamous Blitz, after which his parents sent them to boarding schools in the relative safety of the countryside where Mr. Meyjes attended the Stowe School until 1948. His father stayed in London to join the reconstituted Dutch Government.
In 1951, he received his bachelor’s degree from the School of Political Science at the University of Paris, and in 1956, he received a master’s degree from Harvard Business School. After returning to France to teach political science at the university in Aix-en-Provence with his first wife Anne, he was hired by the First National City Bank in New York in August of 1960 and began his 34-year career in international banking, becoming a senior vice president at Citibank in 1976. He was a resident of Darien from 1967 through 1987. One of his most interesting assignments was to establish and manage the first international private banking group at any large bank outside of Switzerland. Mr. Meyjes retired from Citibank in 1988 and moved to Chicago to work on restructuring projects for Continental Bank before it was sold to Bank of America in 1994.
Mr. Meyjes was a model train enthusiast, loved boating and fishing in Darien, and Southampton, New York and was an avid World War II historian. In addition to English he spoke French, Dutch and German, and he wrote three books: two World War II historical fiction novels, Abandoned Property and One of Our Ships Is Missing, and one family history, In Times Like These.
He was predeceased by his sister Christine, and he is survived by his wife of 27 years, Pamela, his children Robert Meyjes (Joan) of Darien, Julie Meyjes Smith (Greg) of New York, Catherine Meyjes of New Castle, New Hampshire, John Meyjes (Sarah) of Piedmont, California and his stepdaughter Virginia Boyd Lockhart (JB) of Greenwich, 10 grand-children, Annie Meyjes, Sam Meyjes, Matt Meyjes, Christine Smith Verderosa, Caylie Smith, Campbell Smith, Peter Gerrish, Willem Gerrish, Kate Meyjes and Jack Meyjes, one great-grandchild, Archer Verderosa, and two step-grandsons, James and Alexander Lockhart. He will be terribly missed by all of them, his family said.
A memorial service will be held at St. James Episcopal Church at 865 Madison Avenue in Manhattan on Monday, March 6 at 11 a.m. with a reception immediately following.
— by The Darien Times
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