James R. Dwyer ’63

Jim died peacefully May 9, 2019, in Norwalk, Conn., after an extended illness. He was a retired partner and head of institutional sales at Cowen & Co., having worked more than 40 years on Wall Street.

Jim attended Notre Dame High School in New Haven, Conn., and was the first in his family to enter college. He worked summers as a union laborer in a coking factory to make enough money to fully enjoy school, especially the parties at Tower Club. Jim was proud to say he shot pool with Jerry Lee Lewis and bailed out Chuck Berry from a Philadelphia jail to keep Berry’s Tower performance on schedule.

At Princeton Jim majored in English, writing his thesis on Joseph Conrad; played freshman hockey; belonged to the pre-law society; Orange Key and Whig-Clio; and perfected his bridge and billiards. He roomed with Don Nicol and Mike Eckles. Jim credited Princeton with changing the course of his life. It lifted him out of a limited set of options based on his family’s working-class background to have the freedom to pursue whatever he wanted to try to accomplish.

Jim is survived by his wife, Anne; daughter Catherine; sons Sean and Colin; grandchildren Elizabeth, Ted, and Victoria; brother Gerry; and several nephews.