MARION  - Cederholm, John Theodore, 80 – Adventurer, Investment Officer, Life-long Giver and Runner

John’s long and adventuresome journey ended on July 3, 2023 at his home in Marion, MA surrounded by loved ones. 

He is survived by fellow adventurer and wife Theresa “Tess” Cederholm, her sisters Christie Dickason Faulkner (John) of London, Cynthia Dickason-Scott (Christopher) of NYC, and cousin Carol Fondé of Somerville, MA; nephews Joshua Waldhorn (sons Cooper and Bayley) of Melbourne AU, Thomas French (Marina & son Sebastian) of London, and special caregivers Lora-See Sylvia and Andrea Dube. He also leaves his adopted grand-daughter Tsering Sherpa, her spouse Nima Sherpa & great granddaughter Ema.

Born in Boston 12/21/1942 to Theodore C. Cederholm and Mary (Carroll) Cederholm, John attended Tabor Academy before graduating from Cornell University with a degree in European history and Russian literature then took a master’s in Russian history and Iranian art from the University of Rochester. He became a successful financial advisor at the former Bank of New England throughout numerous mergers and retired at aged 58 from Bank of America.

 Formerly of Boston, Milton, & Marion, MA; Ithaca, NY and Madison, NH,  John launched many world adventures with his wife Tess hiking, rock-climbing & ice-climbing on many of the world’s high peaks and immersing themselves in local folklore while making friends, collecting crafts, music and recipes. They were asked to lead groups of friends to the unusual places they’d been, many as yet with no developed tourism. Thus became an enduring and revolving group of brave travelers and arts lovers dubbed by one wag “COSTT “(Cederholm Opera, Symphony and Trekking Tours). John independently participated in other high mountaineering expeditions throughout the world.  Closer to home, he won the Mt. Washington Road Race the first time he ran it and placed in the top five in his age group every subsequent year. In 2017 he was inaugurated into the Mt. Washington Hall of Fame.

Although Cederholm was an outstanding road runner with many impressive marathons and shorter road races, he also held the American 50 km record for 3 years. But he liked 

to mix it up with rugged trail races and track events. A quintessential effort that combined his passions for sailing, running, biking and mountain climbing was The Three Peaks Yacht Race, a challenging 400-mile boat race from Barmouth in Wales to Fort Williams in the Scottish Highlands with stopovers enroute to climb (run) the highest mountains in England (Scafell Pike) Scotland (Ben Nevis) and Wales (Mount Snowden). His four team members – a Scotsman, a Welshman, and 2 Australians (whom he had met through his travels) finished 7th of 24 boats, succumbing to an all-woman team but nosing out the Israeli commando team. Because they had the highest aggregate age of any team they were presented a special award: The Wrinkles Trophy, not one that they had coveted, but a “tribute to some very tough guys who refuse to grow old gracefully”. 

John was active in his extended communities, serving on nonprofit boards of the Sippican Land Trust, Museum of Natural History and was an enthusiastic supporting member of  80+ environmental, wildlife, population growth, hunger, human rights and arts charities.  He also served as President of the Boston Athletic Assn runners team 1977-1980 and had inherited his father’s membership in the Algonquin Sporting Club in Erroll, NH.

A celebration of his life will take place in the fall.

Arrangements by Chapman Funerals & Cremations – Wareham.  To leave a message of condolence visit: www.chapmanfuneral.co