Walter Channing

Walter Channing Jr. (September 23, 1940March 12, 2015) was a wood sculptor, winemaker, and venture capitalist. He owned the Channing Daughters Winery in Bridgehampton, New York, where he planted his first Chardonnay vines in 1982. Early life and education Channing was born in Dover, Massachusetts, to Walter Channing, a physician, and Eleine Taylor Channing, a painter and clothing designer. His older sister, Cornelia "Nina" Channing, went on to become a prominent researcher in the field of endocrinology and fertility. Growing up in a wooded area, Channing developed a lifelong interest in trees. As a child, he ran a tree-surgery business. When he interviewed for a place at Harvard, he and the Dean of Freshman, Francis Skiddy von Stade Sr., who was about to buy a chainsaw, talked at length about the machines. “I knew I had a good interview because he was really interested,” Channing said. “So I got into Harvard because I knew a lot about chainsaws.”