Chaplin “Chappy” Tyler was a man of many talents. A World War I veteran, he worked as an engineering researcher, a business-journalism instructor, a public relations manager, a business consultant, and an author. And he was probably Northeastern’s oldest alumnus.

Tyler, E’20, who died in late February just shy of his 106th birthday, was nothing if not productive.

He had as much luck as he did skill. Interviewed by Northeastern University Alumni Magazine when he turned 100—the same year his alma mater did, by the way—he said he’d never once had to look for work. It always found him.

The Washington, D.C., native, who had lived in Delaware for many years after a long career with DuPont, credited Northeastern with teaching him the value of on-the-job learning.

In 1915, Tyler wanted to attend MIT to study chemical engineering but failed the American history section of the entrance exam—so he came to Northeastern. After graduation and a tour of duty in France during World War I, he finally wound up at MIT, working as a research assistant.

He went on to earn a master’s in chemical engineering from MIT and a business degree from Boston University.

Tyler worked for McGraw-Hill publishers, writing a textbook in 1926 titled Chemical Engineering Economics, a feat that landed him a job at DuPont as a specialist in that field. Tyler stayed at DuPont for thirty-five years, beginning with jobs in chemistry and research, and moving on to positions in sales, public relations, and development.

Though Tyler retired from DuPont in 1963 at age sixty-five, he kept working, consulting for the Coca-Cola Company, the University of Delaware, and the state of Delaware. And he wrote more books, including Managing Innovation (1976), which he coauthored with Edwin Gee, and Building for Success in Business: Your Mid-Career Years (1996).

He also remarried at age ninety-two, four years after the death of his first wife.

Commenting on Tyler’s abundant life, the Wilmington (Del.) News Journal wrote in a March 4 editorial, “For some, long life is an ordeal. Chaplin Tyler’s was an unfolding expedition.”

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