When we heard Jim’s strong, authoritarian voice in R.P. Blackmur’s creative-writing classroom in the summer of 1942, we knew he was destined to command respect at high levels. And sure enough, at age 38, he was named president of New York University. Over a span close to 14 years, Jim — who died Dec. 31, 2014 — turned the nearly bankrupt regional college into the nation’s largest private university; as John Sexton, its current president, has said, it is now “a major, respected, global research university.”
In 1975, Jim revealed why he cherished his job, saying that New Yorkers “tend to be unusually lively people. They give its institutions great dynamism and some eccentricity,” making NYU “a much more interesting place” than many other universities.
Following NYU, Jim served as first rector of the United Nations University in Tokyo (from 1975 to 1980), as president of the New York Botanical Garden (1980 to 1989), and as president of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation (1989 to 2004).
Surviving Jim are his widow, Janet Rodes; their daughters, Janet Garrish, Margaret Giroux, and Martha Stafford; seven grandchildren; his brother, Raymond; and his sister, Virginia Laddy.
To all, ’46 expresses utmost gratitude for Jim’s dedicated life and abounding accomplishments.