Nancy Swift Dingwall Platt passed away peacefully and feeling much love at her home on April 14, 2026, at age 86. Originally from Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, and later Fort Lauderdale, Florida, she spent almost 60 years in her beloved chosen hometown of Rye, New York.Nancy cherished the communities she shared there, including at the Rye Presbyterian Church and Manursing Island Club. She also thrived with participating in her book club, her women’s outreach group, and by singing in the RPC choir.
A graduate of Miss Hall’s School and Mount Holyoke College,Nancy was a religion major, a music minor, and a childhood spelling bee champion. Nancy was also very proud of her career in human resources at Life Magazine, HBO, and Time Warner, where she developed and implemented the Work and Family Life Initiative. Nancy lived a rich, full, and rewarding life of love and music and laughter and service. Nancy loved to sing, and was part of the Mount Holyoke V8s; singing is how she met our father, Princeton Tigertone Hunter Platt. She sang in the RPC choir for decades-and essentially everywhere she could! Nancy also loved to laugh, do needlepoint, do the NYT crossword, play tennis, sail, read books, watch golf, and cheer for “her boys”-aka the Boston Red Sox. And she took great joy in attending Broadway shows with family and friends.
Lots of people think their mom is a special person, but … our mom was a truly special person. Nancy’s endless capacity for love, empathy, laughter, smiling, kindness, music, faith, joy, knowledge, optimism, gratitude, generosity, loyalty, and persistence remains an inspiration not just to her four loving children, eight grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter, but also to her large chosen family. Nancy inspired and touched the lives of countless devoted friends and colleagues, as well as so many of her children’s friends, her friends’ children, and … simply everyone she knew.
May her memory be a blessing. We know that of the many blessings and privileges her four children have been fortunate enough to receive, Nancy being our mother is undoubtedly, as she would say, “number one.”
There will be a memorial service and celebration of Nancy’s life on Saturday, October 3, 2026, 11:00 a.m. at the Rye Presbyterian Church. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the American Cancer Society or the Alzheimer’s Association.
