JAMES W. NEEDHAM

NEEDHAM, James W., 78, died peacefully after a long illness March 13, 2010 in New York City. The son of W. Reuel and Cecilia Coad Needham, he was born in Ithaca, NY and grew up in Southern California during World War II. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, majoring in poker. Upon graduation from Stanford Business School he worked for Standard Oil Company of New Jersey in the treasurer's department. He began his Wall Street career at White, Weld and was Chief Financial Officer at the time of its sale to Merrill Lynch, where he then worked in international investment banking. In 1985 he joined Florence Fearrington, Inc. as Chairman. He retired when the firm was sold in 1997 to U.S. Trust Company of New York. He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Florence, his daughter Elizabeth (Peter Mark) of Old Greenwich, CT, his son John (Justine) of Littleton, CO, and four grandchildren, Ethan and Kathryn Mark and Cecilia and Evelyn Needham. Jim was a collector of antiquarian natural history books, a longtime member of The Grolier Club and the consummate bookman. He was a benefactor of several institutions, among them Harvard where he endowed two Chairs, including one in Book Conservation. For many years, he served on the Harvard University Library Visiting Committee. There will be a reception in his honor at The Grolier Club on Easter Monday 5:30-7:30pm.