Robert C. Finch

1943-2024
 Robert Charles Finch (known by most as Bob) died on the morning of September 30, 2024, on Cape Cod, where he lived since 1972. He was surrounded by family and friends and died from complications of Parkinson’s Disease.
Bob was born in 1943 to Fritzi Wasserburger Finch and Charles ‘Chuck’ Finch. His first 12 years were spent in North Arlington, New Jersey, where he often spent his days going to the movies, reading comic books and playing with his Lionel Train set. When his father got transferred to the DuPont plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the family followed - not without protest. It was there that he got his first writing job in high school, writing obituaries for the Parkersburg Sentinel.  After graduating from Parkersburg High School in 1961, he went on to be the first one in his family to go to college, and attended Harvard College on a scholarship.
After his freshman year at Harvard, Bob became a counselor at Camp Viking on Pleasant Bay, an experience that changed his life. He left Harvard, and spent the following school year in Provincetown, working as a private secretary for Mary Heaton Vorse, and writing for The New Beacon newspaper in Provincetown, where he was charged with covering town meetings and writing more obituaries. He would often comment that this led to a lifetime interest in mortality.
Bob eventually returned to Harvard and graduated in 1967 Phi Beta Kappa. After earning his Master’s in English from Indiana University and crisscrossing the U.S. with his wife and son a handful of times,he returned to Cape Cod for good in 1972.
After settling in West Brewster with his family, he started writing a column, “Soundings,” which ran from 1975 to 1984 in The Cape Codder and other local newspapers. He also served as  publications director for the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History.  His first book, Common Ground: A Naturalist’s Cape Cod,was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction.n . He went on to publish over a dozen books of his essays including The Primal Place, Outlands, Death of a Hornet, The Iambics of Newfoundland, and most recently, The Outer Beach. His final book, Summers in Squid Tickle: A Newfoundland Odyssey, is forthcoming from W.W. Norton in spring 2025. .
In 2005 Bob ventured into the world of radio with the Cape and Islands NPR station WCAI. His radio commentaries, “A Cape Cod Notebook”, have been a regular feature of the station, and won the New England Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Radio Writing in 2006 and 2013.
Among his awards are a Guggenheim Fellowship, the New England Booksellers Association prize for non-fiction, a New England Literary Lights award from the Associates of the Boston Public Library, the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History Thoreau Award, and the Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts Ansel B. Chaplin Award.
In addition to his essays, he published a number of other books, among them The Cape Itself (in collaboration with photographer Ralph MacKenzie), and A Place Apart: A Cape Cod Reader. He was co-editor (with John Elder) of The Norton Book of Nature Writing, which has been used in college courses around the country.
Always ready to share his passion for writing and literature, he was a lifelong teacher  in many venues, among them  Oregon State University,, Williams College, Emerson College, Carleton College, Pennsylvania State University, Cape Cod Community College, Spalding University, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference at Middlebury College, and the Massachusetts Audubon Society. 
During his lifetime, he also worked as a civil servant in several capacities. He served as a Park Ranger in Indiana in 1968 and served as the co-chair of the Brewster Conservation Commission from 1980-1987 and was a founding member of the Land Acquisition Committee and served as its co-chair from 1984-1987. During his tenure, he guided the town of Brewster with great tenacity to approve the purchase of an 800-acre parcel of land, known as ‘The Punkhorn’, as an appeal to value the ever-dwindling open space on Cape Cod.
Bob also had a long career as a performer. He was a third-generation student of the Lippel School of Dance in Newark, and appeared on stage beginning at age three. He was an accomplished pianist as well as singer. He sang for over 40 years on Cape Cod, beginning with the Chatham Chorale and later with the Outer Cape Chorale, both of which provided a deep sense of community and coming together with a common purpose.In 2012 passages from his essay, “North Beach Journal,” were used as the text for A Chatham Rhapsody, a chorale composition by Boston composer William Cutter, which was performed by the Chatham Chorale for that town’s Tercentennial celebration.
A man of contrasts, Bob was an aficionado of classical music, Robert Frost poems and artisanal croissants; but he also had a deep appreciation for a cold glass of Coca-Cola, a racy joke and a snappy piece of dialogue from Seinfeld. He was a man of thrift, but loved the cashmere sweaters his brother would send at Christmas; and he was equally at home watching the Boston Symphony Orchestra and enjoying a hotdog in the stands of Fenway Park or at a Cape Cod Baseball League game. His work touched the lives of many and even though he was “mildly lawless” (a quote from one of his early reviewers) and pursued pleasure, he tirelessly strove to encourage others to honor the power and delicate nature of Cape Cod.
Bob leaves behind his wife Kathy Shorr, his children Christopher and Katy and his grandchildren Anna, Henry, Lila, and Charlie. He also leaves his former wife, Elizabeth, nephew John, his niece Andrea, his best friend of 60 years Soheil Zendeh, and his faithful poodle Sam. He was predeceased by his parents as well as his brother Dave and childhood best friend Jimmy Maitland.
Burial is private. A celebration of his life will be held at a later date.
Memorial donations may be made to The Authors League Fund (https://authorsleaguefund.org/), the Brewster Conservation Trust (https://brewsterconservationtrust.org)  or the Wellfleet Conservation Trust (https://wellfleetconservationtrust.org/).