JAMES WICKERSHAM

WICKERSHAM--James H.

Jr., of Southport, Connecticut, age 88, died on August 20, 2017 after a brief illness. He was born in New York City on July 29, 1929, the son of James and Bertha (Tilney) Wickersham. He was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University, where he received his B.A. in 1951. He was a vice president of the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, and a founder of the Park Avenue Bank. Mr. Wickersham served for many years as a director and the treasurer of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Mr. Wickersham was an experienced sailor, who skippered a series of yachts named Gannet in at least ten Bermuda races and the 1972 Trans-Atlantic race from Bermuda to Bayona, Spain. He sailed three times to Newfoundland. He was a member of the Cruising Club of America, the New York Yacht Club, and the Pequot Yacht Club. He could take a sun sight and a star sight, and could navigate safely into a fog-choked harbor relying on his compass, his charts, and the sounds of bell-buoys and breakers. He leaves his sons Jay and Peter, his daughter Tilney, and eight grandchildren. His later years were made happy by the love of Virginia Sanford. A memorial service will be held in Southport on Friday, September 15 at Trinity Episcopal Church at 3:30pm, with a reception afterward at the Pequot Yacht Club. Contributions in his memory can be made to the Mystic Seaport Museum or the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.