Warren Wechsler (1942-2025) – Century Archives

Warren Wechsler (1942 – 2025)

The Century Association Archives Foundation profoundly mourns the passing of its long-time president, Warren Wechsler, a devoted member of the Century Association for 39 years. Beginning as a trustee in 2011, Warren was a leading steward of the Archives Foundation, and served as president from 2014 until his death in the summer of 2025.

Warren was the quintessential Centurion, an erudite conversationalist and curious listener, known for his singular bonhomie. Eloquent in both speech and prose, Warren was a regular, spirited, and irreplacable presence at the clubhouse. In addition to his famed musical performances, his incomparable laugh can be heard among the attendees in event recordings held by the Archives, and his cherished experiences of the Century are documented in a two-part oral history interview conducted in 2022 and 2023.

Warren oversaw the hiring of the current and former executive directors of CAAF, whom he encouraged with invaluable wisdom and support, and his death reminds us of the value of the work we do to preserve the memory and cultivate the influence of members within the club.

Warren often referred to the Century as a “procession of cultural and civic endeavor,” one in which he was honored to take part and to support as president of the Archives Foundation. He recently honored the CAAF founders who came before him here.

We will continue to commemorate Warren and his numerous contributions to the Century and the Archives Foundation on this page.

“Your possibilities here abound because the greatest dividend of membership—beyond the Century’s traditions, its heritage, its pageantry, its gilded, golden rooms, and intellectual and artistic vigor—is the Association’s portal to friendships, new relationships that can summon your versatility, originality, talents, and capacity for refreshment, renewal, and reinvention.”

Warren Wechsler

Read In Full

The Century’s Consummate Crooner

In 2013, Warren co-founded a monthly sampling of the great American songbook with friend and cartoonist Arnold Roth, who illustrated this flyer. While the lineup changed over the years, Warren consistently provided the backbone of piano and vocal accompaniment. The Century was ultimately treated to over 120 performances, the final of which was in June 2025. He also participated in numerous sing-alongs and other musical productions at the Century, recorded for posterity and held in the Archives. We present a Wechsler jukebox here.

Listen to the Wechslher jukebox

Club Service

Throughout his tenure at the Century, Warren occupied a number of pivotal roles that impacted club culture. The scope of his involvement reflects his prodigious interests and enthusiasm. Warren was a Digressionist since 2016, and a chief organizer of the Round Table Group, ‘a club within the club’ that meets regularly for conversation in a tradition spanning back to 1867.

Committee on Admissions

1992-1995
Committee on Literature

1998-1999
Trustee

1998-1999 and 2010-2013
Commitee on Eine Kleine Hausmusik

2010-2011
Committee on Drama

2012
Committee on Development

2020-2023
Committee on Film

2022-2025
Trustee, Century Association Archives Foundation

2011-2025
President, Century Association Archives Foundation

2014-2025

Warren’s Oral History Interview

In late 2022 and early 2023, Kevin Baker, Nancy Shapiro, and Gina Pollara sat down with Warren for a two-part oral history interview on his Century experiences. Warren reflected on his initial aborted career in musical composition and how the Century helped evolved his relationship to it: “Well, I’ve had another kind of life with music here through people who shared share my love of it […]. My musical life here has taken on a very different form. Abandoning an early ambition has been a regret of mine. but it’s very hard to achieve success in writing music for the theater. The odds are very long. But one of the great joys for me at the Century in addition to meeting people who have enriched my life in different ways, but of new perspectives, of a new take you can have on your own life based on your relationship with a particular friend. Bill Zinsser would be an example who revised my outlook on life for the better.” The second part was conducted at the piano, and inevitably Warren regaled them with a poignant performance of Zinsser’s “Where Did the Summer Go?” made available here.

Watch Listen to more of Warren’s performances

Centurion 1986-2025

Remembering Warren Wechsler

We are currently assembling our images of Warren at the Century, but are stymied by the club’s ban on photography. We welcome all contraband.

Warren’s Century Family Tree

During Warren’s tenure, the CAAF began generating member family trees, tracing their Century lineage through proposer and seconder back to a founding member of the club.

We now regularly welcome new members in what Warren referred to as “a mosaic-like portrait of the institution.”

You may view Warren’s own Centurion geneaology, which begins with his Proposer John V. Lindsay and Seconder Schuyler G. Chapin, here.

To request your own Century Family tree, contact the Archivist.

CAAF Medal Ceremonies

Since 2006, the CAAF has awarded medals to individuals who personify the Century’s heritage of cultural and civic leadership. Close friends and colleagues from within and outside the Association make special remarks on the honoree’s community contributions and friendship at a special luncheon and medal presentation ceremony.

Under Warren’s leadership, CAAF honored Joan K. Davidson, Barbara Goldsmith, Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, Theodore C. Rogers, Robert Caro, and Betsy Gotbaum.

For recordings of these events, including Warren’s remarks, contact the Archivist.

Pictured: Wechsler with 2023 honoree Betsy Gotbaum and CAAF trustee Donald Rice.

Donations to the Century Association Archives Foundation in memory of Warren Wechsler are tax-deductible and support our mission to ensure that, in his words, “the fascinating history of the Century will be preserved and made available with the quality and scope it inarguably deserves.“

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