Michael Charles Stone

Michael Charles Stone, 76, grew up in a family of collectors in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. His father, Theodore Stone, who died in 2000, was chief of U.S. Navy photography in the Pacific in WW2, and subsequently amassed the world’s preeminent collection of photographs of navy ships, which he donated to the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia. Michael’s brother Alfred (Fred), who died of cancer in 1979, collected old Cadillac cars and parts on a large scale. Their mother, Lily Calderon-Spitz, had been a celebrated dancer in Vienna before she fled in 1938 to escape the Nazis. (She spoke little about her youth before her death in 1991, and Michael spent his last few years researching her glittering career.)

Michael’s paternal grandfather had been a famous conjuring magician before establishing a flourishing business in textiles, after which he boosted and supported indigent and fledgling magicians, and held a festive gathering of magicians every year at his home in Croton. As a kid, Mike basked in their eccentric company, learned card tricks from Blackstone the Magician, was frequently cast as a “volunteer,” and was made to disappear by a young Amazing Randy. (He later reappeared!) He collected books, posters, tricks, and ephemera related to professional magicians for the rest of his life.

He was always a prodigious collector. In his youth it was Coronation and Jubilee postage stamps from Britain and the Colonies; upwards of 10,000 keys; and maybe 100 clocks. Later, it was a world-class collection of dental instruments, dentistry equipment, and a vast dentistry library, which he subsequently donated to the dentistry museum at the University of Nebraska. He was a relentlessly curious fellow: at one point in London, he obtained permission to observe cardiac surgery; at another, he spent a day at Guy’s Hospital investigating the sterilization of instruments and the steel trays in which they are kept; then went to Devonshire for a day at the Land Rover factory and repair depot, to learn everything he could about the intimate details of the vehicles, parts, and fine points of repair. In Sydney, Australia in 1988, he purchased the entire antique inventory of a vintage locksmith, whose bulky iron and steel tools and wares he schlepped on flights to New Zealand, California, and home — along with a bunch of slouch hats and other souvenirs from the Antipodes.

[Michael Charles Stone, page 2]

After earning a B.S. in Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University in 1970, Michael went to the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, where he was president of the senior class and was awarded a DMD in 1974. He practiced dentistry in Providence, Rhode Island before opening his own practice in Boston, where he became a renowned expert in gold fill and served on the Massachusetts State Nursing Board. He built a serious collection of Boston prints, maps, and books. In recent years he donated much of his collection to museums and libraries, but that did not stop him from continuing to assemble hundreds of things for other people’s collections. An interest in accordion-playing figurines, penguins, miniatures, or salt cellars brought an unstoppable deluge of gifts.

Michael had a wide circle of friends that spanned the globe. His generosity and kindness put people through school and supported them in trying times; his Beacon Street home was open to all. He traveled extensively and enthusiastically, from Russia to Australia, and back and forth across the USA, Canada, and Europe multiple times; he rode the rapids of the Colorado River annually, and moved regularly between Boston, Provincetown, and Florida. Mike loved dancing, exercised like a maniac, ate as much fruit or as much chocolate cake as might be sitting on the table of any friend, and deeply explored himself, researching and reading about eyes, brains, psyches, and sexuality.

To be loved by Michael Stone was a great gift. And to see the love he shared with his life partner Kurt Reynolds was deeply gratifying. He had a stroke while lying in Kurt’s arms and died a week later on July 16, 2024 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Michael leaves his cousin, Erica Braude, and his loss reverberates across many communities of friends, former patients, fellow travelers, and the owners of used bookstores and junk shops. He was deeply loved and will be profoundly missed.

A memorial gathering will be planned at a later time. Donations in Michael’s memory can be made to the Association for Autism and Neurodiversity.