JAMES OLTMAN

OLTMAN--James Harvey,

died peacefully on July 21, 2015. He was 84. Jim leaves behind his adored family: Joan, his wife of 64 years, his children, son Jonathan Oltman (Cathy Bertinuson), daughter Cathy Megan Oltman (Daniel Porcher), and daughter Ellen Oltman Kellner (Charles Kellner), and six grandchildren: Anna, Rachel, Andrew, Noah, Rob, and Adam, as well as many nieces, nephews, great-nephews, and great-nieces, all of whom made his life a special delight. Jim was born in Birmingham, Alabama and shortly after went to Japan, where his parents were Presbyterian missionaries. He spent his first 10 years in Tokyo, speaking Japanese as his first language. The family spent the war years in the US and returned to Japan in 1946 where his father worked with the American Military Government. Jim finished high school at the American School in Japan. He graduated from Antioch College in 1954 and Harvard Law School in 1959, serving in the US Army in between. He joined the Legal Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as an assistant counsel in 1961 and retired as first vice president and chief operating officer in 1995. While general counsel of the "Fed," he was instrumental in the freezing of Iranian assets after the taking of the American hostages, and then in the negotiations that resulted in the release of the hostages and the establishment of the American/Iranian Claims Tribunal. Jim was a very active Quaker, serving as presiding clerk of his monthly meeting, on its trustees and on the trustees of New York Yearly Meeting of Quakers. He was the president of the board of managers of Oakwood Friends School and on the founding board of Kendal on Hudson, a continuing care retirement community in Sleepy Hollow, New York, where he and Joan have lived for the past ten years. A story-teller, singer, lawyer, central banker, advocate, mediator, leader, and a very funny man.