James H. Pipkin ’60

Jim graduated from Pelham (N.Y.) Memorial High School. At Princeton, he played in the band and orchestra, majored in mathematics, dined at Key and Seal, and was active in the Pre-Law Society. 

Jim earned a law degree at Harvard Law School in 1963. After a year in government service, he earned a law degree at University College, Oxford, and returned to Washington to practice law. Jim married Lesley Wilson in 1967 and became a partner in Steptoe & Johnson there in 1972.

Jim’s interests broadened to include serious photography in the mid-’70s. After a year studying with Ansel Adams, Jim became prominent in architectural photography: teaching at the Smithsonian Institution, doing major exhibits for the National Gallery of Art (U.S.) and the Royal Institute of British Architects, mounting major exhibits for both, and producing several books with the British National Trust.

He was also a student of fine wines and served in senior offices of the Confrerie de Chevaliers du Tastevin, the worldwide Burgundy lovers association. Jim retired from law in 1993 and returned to government service, specializing in environmental matters, for which he was appointed an ambassador in 1994. 

Jim and Lesley divorced in the 1970s, but remained close and remarried two weeks before he died Dec. 13, 2022. We send her our sincere sympathies.