James P. Sinclair ’59

With Jimmy’s passion for ocean racing, alpine skiing, golf, court tennis, steeplechase racing, squash, and fox hunting, he was truly a sportsman for all seasons. His love for theater, opera, symphony, and New York City’s finer dining establishments made him a thoroughgoing “man about town.”

Jimmy came to us from Virginia’s horse country via St. Alban’s School. At Princeton, he majored in history, served with distinction in NROTC, dined at Charter, roomed with Harley Haynes and Dick Woods, rowed crew, and co-captained a victorious sailing team,

Following graduation and service with the Navy he married Ellie Crosby with whom he had his two older sons (James and Ian), earned an MBA at the University of Virginia’s Darden School, and quickly headed to the canyons of Wall Street, where he spent four decades in the field of investment banking. Remarried to “Daisy” Nieland with whom he had two additional sons (Duncan and Gibbons), he and Daisy enjoyed 43 years of matrimony with summers spent on Martha’s Vineyard, and “service” for several years as commodore of the Edgartown Yacht Club.

A master storyteller with an uncanny memory for people and events, Jimmy’s intellect, kindness, and passion allowed him to live life to the fullest, to the very end, when he died Jan. 26, 2026. Predeceased by Daisy, he was survived by his first wife, Ellie, and his children.