New London — The city lost a passionate promoter and an outspoken critic Wednesday when Neild B. Oldham died of prostate cancer at his home at 11 Plant St. He was 79.
Mr. Oldham, who moved to New London in 1969, leaves a legacy of historic preservation work and activism against eminent domain. He opposed the city's large-scale urban renewal projects in the 1960s and '70s, and joined the fight to preserve Union Station when the building, designed by famed American architect Henry Hobson Richardson and completed in 1888, seemed destined for the wrecking ball, Susan H. Munger, Mr. Oldham's wife, said.
“He tried hard to make a difference,” she said. “He felt people had to speak out when they felt things weren't right.”
Speak out, Mr. Oldham did. “He was a hero of New London,” said former Mayor Lloyd Beachy. “When he saw wrong happening, he knew who to call, and he wasn't afraid to make the call.”
That included impassioned comments before the City Council and numerous letters to The Day.
Mr. Oldham's best-known campaign may be his opposition to the use of eminent domain to seize middle-class homes on the Fort Trumbull peninsula to make room for economic development.
“Very early on, he felt it was wrong,” Munger said. “He believed the government shouldn't take private property for economic development, shouldn't take private property to give to someone else and shouldn't take private property for financial gain that isn't for the whole public.”
He joined — and, for a time, served as chairman of — the Coalition to Save Fort Trumbull. He also hosted a public-access cable television show with Munger called “Fort Trumbull Facts.”
His passion for history shone even in his Fort Trumbull fight. In a%2
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