John Michael Degener

SHARON — John Michael Degener, 77, known as Michael, died March 20, 2011, while vacationing on the Caribbean island of Mustique in the West Indies. He suffered a fatal cardiac arrest while snorkeling off a reef on the Cotton House beach. Born in New York City on July 11, 1933, Mr. Degener was the son of the late Nouche Lucien-Robert and George Ludwig Degener Jr. Mr. George Degener and his late wife, Mary Renwick Degener, Michael’s stepmother, had a longtime country residence in Millerton, from 1940 to 1981. He grew up on the Upper East Side of New York, attended Trinity School, boarded at Riverdale School for Boys, and graduated from The Millbrook School. He was a 1956 graduate of Williams College, and received an MBA from New York University in 1972. In 1988, Mr. Degener moved to Sharon with his wife, Helen (MacDonald) Degener, who survives him. Together they restored an old farmhouse dating from 1745. He loved wildlife, which he fed daily outside his house in winter, and the many Siamese cats who shared his home, including its present inhabitants, Robert and Freddy.His career utilized his talent for creating special computer programs for large systems when the field was in its early years. He did this as assistant to the president of Refined Syrups and Sugars, a division of CPC International. Later he worked for other firms before starting his own consulting firm. One of his more public achievements was designing the computerized public information boards and score boards used at the Montreal Olympics in 1976.At the Sharon Country Club, where he was a longtime member, he is remembered as a fine tennis player and indefatigable golfer, always elegantly dressed and working on improving his game. He twice won the club’s Governor’s Cup for golf. His last victory came in 2010, in a memorable 22 –hole match with his frequent playing partner, Margaret Douglas-Hamilton.He collected World War II model aircraft and lavished care upon his two vintage Mercedes cars, named Blanche and Sapphire. Mr. Degener through his mother’s French family lived in Paris and the south of France off and on until World War II began in France. He spoke French fluently, learning it as his first language, and loved reading the wonderful French library left to him by his grandmother. He traveled extensively in France throughout his life. In addition to his wife, Helen, he is survived by two children from his first marriage to Marie-Laure (Murat) Degener, his daughter, Carol Marie-Laure Degener of New York City and his son, John Michael Degener Jr., and his wife, Henriette Kets-de-Vries, of Southhampton, Mass.; one granddaughter, Belen Degener also of Southampton; and by a stepsister, Mary Joan Hall and a stepbrother, Monroe Bostwick Hall Jr., both of Maine. He was predeceased by an older half-brother, George L. Degener III. A private interment service is planned for the immediate family. A memorial service will be held Saturday, May 28, at 11 a.m. at Christ Episcopal Church in Sharon, followed by a reception at the Sharon Country Club. Memorial contributions may be made to the Sharon Audubon Society. Arrangements are under the care of the Kenny Funeral Home in Sharon.