James A.S. Leach Jr. ’64

Jim died Dec. 11, 2024.

He came to Princeton from Davenport (Iowa) High School, where he participated in football, golf, and wrestling, winning the 138-pound state championship. In 2003, he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. At Princeton, Jim majored in politics, thrice lettered in wrestling, and captained the 150-pound football team senior year. A member of Ivy, he was a class officer, vice chair of the Undergraduate Council, Chapel deacon, and chair of the University’s delegation to the 1963 National Student Association Congress.

After Princeton, Jim earned an M.A. from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He did further graduate work at the London School of Economics before joining the foreign service, serving under Donald Rumsfeld ’54. Elected to Congress from Iowa in 1976, he served for 30 years, chairing several committees, collaborating with Sen. Bill Bradley ’65 of New Jersey on landmark banking reform legislation, and being one of the first senior politicians to bemoan the rise of ardent partisanship.

From 2002 to 2006, Jim was a Princeton trustee and in 2010 he received the Woodrow Wilson Award. After losing his 2006 re-election bid, he accepted appointments in the Woodrow Wilson School and at Harvard’s Kennedy School. In 2009, President Obama nominated him as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He led NEH until 2013, afterward appointed senior scholar at the University of Iowa’s Center for Human Rights.

Jim’s legacy is one of intellectual rigor, political courage, and deep love of country, fully embodying Old Nassau’s motto, “Princeton in the nation’s service and the service of humanity.”

He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Deba; their son, Gallagher; daughter Jenny; and two grandchildren, to whom the class extends its condolences.