Mr. Charles "Chuck" Yanikoski

Charles S. Yanikoski, known as “Chuck,” died at the Berkshire Medical Center on August 27th. He was 74. The cause was heart failure complicated by chronic kidney disease. Beloved by those who knew him for his brilliance, uniqueness, originality, and “chocolate salad,” Chuck, who ran his small business, Still River Retirement Planning Software, from home, favored jeans and promotional T-shirts – “Black Lives Matter,” “Indigenous Lives Matter,” the Patriots football team. At his death, he was wearing worn jeans and a black Alexandria Ocasio Cortez T-shirt. Supremely indifferent to fads, he did things his way. At a recent performance at Shakespeare & Co., when ticket holders were required to place their cell phones in plastic sleeves, he presented his flip phone. The Shakespeare employee laughed and waived him through. A graduate of Archbishop Williams High School in Braintree, Mass, Chuck attended Harvard College for a year, and the University of Chicago. Born in Natick, Mass, on August 8, 1952, he had long lived in Harvard, Mass when he and his wife, Linda, moved to Pittsfield in 2018. He leaves his wife, Linda, of 45 years; son, Randy Yanikoski of Great Barrington; daughter, Allie Nerenberg of Jericho, Vermont; son-in-law, Jason Nerenberg, and three grandchildren. In addition, he survives his brother, Richard Yanikoski of Indiana, his sister, Mary Schmidt of Newburyport, and his brother Joseph Yanikoski of Stoughton. A serious reader, Chuck was three quarters of the way through Taylor Branch’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63” when he died. At his wife’s urging, he took occasional breaks from this weighty book he found hard to balance on his lap by reading a novel. Chuck loved chocolate, Hip Hop, chocolate, his family, his and Linda’s rescue dog, Ella, chocolate, theater-going, and quiet evenings with Linda. A devoted husband, in older days he had loved helping Linda (who writes under her maiden name, Linda H. Davis) research her three biographies. The inside of Chuck’s wedding ring bears the inscription “beloved and friend.” For those wanting to make a donation in Chuck’s memory, the family suggests The Berkshire Dream Center in Pittsfield, Mass.

Mr. Charles "Chuck" Yanikoski

August 8, 1952 - August 27, 2026