Born in New York City, Jim prepared at Bronxville High School. He was a History honors major and a member of Berkeley College. He was co-chairman of the Foreign Student Organization, on the Berkeley football and softball teams, a member of DKE, WYBC and the Freshman Track team. Jim was also on the Senior Class Council.

Jim earned his law degree at Michigan in 1965. He served in the U.S. Army 1965-1967. On September 23, 1972, he and Barbara Sanford were married at Immaculate Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church in Scarsdale.

Jim was an investment banker for Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. He was managing director in the financial institutions group, specializing in financing for savings banks, real-estate investment trusts and other financial companies. He spearheaded Merrill Lynch & Co.'s mutual savings bank conversion business, which raised more than $4.6 billion for the industry during his tenure. Jim is noted for his involvement in mergers and acquisitions, most recently the merger of Dime Bank Corp. and Anchor Bank Corp. Jim joined Merrill Lynch & Co. in 1978 as the result of the acquisition of White Weld and Co., where he was a research analyst, then an investment banker.

An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed canoeing, hiking, camping and skiing. He shared his devotion to the outdoors with his family. Jim was a Nastar Gold Medallist in ski racing. Jim was a member of the New York Bar Association, the New York Society of Securities Analysts and the Yale Club. He was also a member of the Edgewood Club of Tivoli, New York, the Wintergreen Club in Windham, New York, and the Bronxville Field Club.

According to classmate Ken Cascone, whom Jim accompanied to the funeral for classmate Dan Kane in 1995, a month before his own death, "Jim was warm, articulate, given to flashes of insight, ironic when he chose to be, and, above all else, genuine."

Jim died in a tragic accident. While canoeing on Middle Saranac Lake, Harrietstown, New York, a storm struck his canoe which capsized, and, while in the water, he suffered a heart attack and perished.

He was survived by his wife Barbara who herself tragically succumbed of cancer in November 2001. Jim and Barbara left two sons, Benjamin, who attends Columbia Medical School, and Michael, a student at Colby College; and a daughter, Claire Donohue, who lives in Bronxville. He was survived by his parents, also Bronxville residents. He was also survived by two brothers, Tom of Bronxville and John of Rochester, Minnesota; and a sister, Mary Allen of Washington, D.C.

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