He graduated from Roxbury Latin School and at Princeton joined Elm Club and wrote his thesis on Eugene O’Neill 1910. He roomed with Robert T.C. Humphreys Jr.
After Navy service Jay graduated from Boston College Law School in 1960, where he was a member of the Law Review. He worked for a couple of years at the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., and then in private practice back in Boston.
In the late 1960s Jay and his wife, Deborah, moved to New Jersey, where he worked first as a legal eagle and then as chief financial officer for SFM Corp. In the late 1980s he and Deborah retired to Vermont, where they had owned a vacation home for several years.
He became owner of 60 Minute Photo, then president of Blanchard & Blanchard in Norwich, Vt., before another retirement. During the past decade, Jay had been a business consultant/mentor at SCORE in Lebanon, N.H.
He met with clients both in the Lebanon office and at his home in Thetford when illness prevented him from driving. He counted SCORE colleagues and Thetford neighbors among his friends. He enjoyed reading about the economy, government, and foreign affairs. Jay was a ranked chess player.
He is survived by his wife, Deborah; sons Owen, Daniel, and Benjamin; and grandchildren Eli, Sarah, Jesse, and Dylan.