Arthur “Chase” Ambler, Jr., 77, of Crowfields, died Friday, October 24, 2008 at his residence.

A native of Asheville, he was son of the late Dr. Arthur Chase Ambler and Mary Barber Ambler, and grandson of Dr. Chase P. Ambler of Asheville. He was also preceded in death by his sister, Julia Ambler Russell.

Mr. Ambler graduated from The Asheville School, where his interest in swimming and diving started. He won the State Springboard Diving Championship while at Asheville School. He continued this interest at UNC in Chapel Hill, where he was on the swimming and diving teams.

After his Army enlistment, he graduated from North Carolina State College, where he coached springboard diving and was employed part-time with the Red Cross as Wake County Safety Services Director.

He taught Physics at Asheville Buncombe Technical Institute, and taught Physics and coached swimming at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, FL and the Asheville School. One year his Asheville School swimming team won the North Carolina State Swimming Championship. The swimming pool is named in honor of his 26 years of coaching swimming there.

He was a professional springboard diver for several years, and coached swimming most of his life, including teams in Raleigh, Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Asheville. He served as a faculty member at the Red Cross National Aquatic School.

Mr. Ambler had many other interests in his life, including photography, where he had four one-man exhibitions and received awards in over 28 national and international competitions; theater, where he was the technical director on over 100 plays and musicals in Asheville and Jacksonville; mountain climbing of snow peaks in France (Mt. Blanc, Europe’s highest), Switzerland, South America, Mexico and the 30-day expedition of Mt. McKinley in Alaska; the Anglican Church, serving on the vestry of two churches, and being an acolyte in many parishes; hiking, hundreds of miles in WNC and over 1,000 miles in Switzerland.

Mr. Ambler was at one time Chairman of First Aid for the local Red Cross chapter. He had been on the board of directors of Friends of The Blue Ridge Parkway, the Asheville Community Arts Council and the Western North Carolina Woodturners. After his retirement he served for three years as the Executive Director of Asheville Community Concerts. (Now Asheville Bravo Concerts.) He was a member of the Carolina Mountain Club, and was a former member of Biltmore Country Club and the Rhododendron Royal Brigade of Guards.  He was also a postponed active member of the Procrastinator’s Club of America.

He is survived by his wife Constance Shuford Ambler; sons, Scott Vilas Ambler and his wife, Betsey Winsor Ambler; Arthur Chase Ambler III and his wife, Holly Pierce Ambler; sister, Mimi Ambler Sagar of Rosman, N.C.; and three grandchildren, Constance, William and Katharine.

A Requiem Mass is scheduled for Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 2:00 PM at All Saints Anglican Church, 3 McDowell Road, Mills River, NC (3.5 miles from the intersection of Brevard Road and Long Shoals Road). The family will receive friends Monday, October 27, 2008 from 5:00-7:00 PM at Morris Funeral Home, 304 Merrimon Avenue

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Mountain Area Hospice, 68 Sweeten Creek Road, Asheville, NC 28803.