Paul Mario Bonaparte-Krogh, born Paul Mario Bonaparte, died at age 68 of Parkinson’s disease dementia on November 19, 2023, at the Hillsborough County Nursing Home.
Born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1955 to social workers Mario and Frances (Boratyn) Bonaparte, he was the oldest of five children and grew up in Riverside, CT.
Boy Scouting helped shape Paul into a man committed to service. He was an Eagle Scout and in the Order of the Arrow and worked at his local Boy Scout camp during high school and college summers.
Paul graduated from Greenwich High School in 1973, and from the University of Connecticut in Storrs with a degree in Education in 1977. He married another GHS graduate, Anne M. Krogh, in 1976, and received an M.Ed. at Cambridge College in Western Massachusetts in 1983.
Paul and Anne raised three wonderful daughters and Paul supported his family with a career in Cooperative Extension from 1978 – 2013 as a 4-H Agent and State Specialist in MA; County Director in Ithaca, NY; and State Assistant Director and Extension Specialist in NH. His job was an avocation as well as a vocation: he found great satisfaction in doing work worth doing and in managing his jobs’ complex constituent parts.
As the family moved, Paul kept their old houses operational and was an avid “Prairie Home Companion” fan, always up for home-grown fun and time with neighbors and extended family. Paul was easygoing and the bedrock for his wife and daughters.
Paul was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2010 and had to cut his work life short at the end of 2013. He entered long-term care at the Hillsborough County Nursing Home in 2020.
Paul was predeceased by his parents Fran and Mario Bonaparte, his sister Ellen Bonaparte, and his in-laws Mary and Carl Krogh. He is survived by his wife Anne of Concord, NH, and their three daughters and sons-in-law: Mary and Jeremy Wahlman-Krogh of Reading, MA; Kate and Zane Merva and grandson J.J. Paul Merva of New Boston, NH; and Phoebe and Zach Stinchfield and granddaughter Lily Bonaparte Stinchfield of Colorado Springs, CO. He is also survived by his siblings and their spouses: Kate and Richard Wilen of Yoncalla, OR; Mike and Lori Bonaparte of Riverside, CT; and Dave and Heather Bonaparte of St. Helena, SC; as well as nieces and nephews Kelsey, Will (and Marisa), Charlie, Claudia, and Matthew. He also leaves three sisters-in-law and their husbands: Christine and David Sandiford, Jean Krogh and Bob Solosko, and Betsy Krogh and Nick Grabbe; as well as nieces and nephews: Jen (and Simon, with son Idris); Liz, Ben, and Alex (and Molly, with daughter Moira); his aunt Carmen; and terrific cousins.
Paul’s brain has been donated to the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center to aid research to prevent dementia.
A celebration of Paul’s life will be held in the new year in Concord, NH.
Paul will have a marker at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Deerfield, MA.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Paul’s name can be made to National Public Radio.
