James died Feb. 15, 2021, in New York City.

He was raised in Bryn  Mawr, Pa., and attended  Mount Lebanon Senior High School, where he was an active member of the chess team. At Princeton, where his father Donald, was in the Class of 1946, James majored in chemistry and wrote his senior thesis under the guidance of Professor Walter Kauzmann. A member of Cannon Club, he was involved with the Undergraduate Chemistry Committee.

After Princeton, he moved to New York  City with his wife, Linda, who predeceased  him in 2016.