C. Sims Farr

C. Sims Farr, attorney, board director, church leader, and World War II veteran, died on Tuesday of cancer. He was 87, and lived in Manhattan and Charleston, S.C.

Born in Long Island, he attended Kent and Princeton before becoming a Naval “90 day wonder” in 1940. In June 1941, he was secretly convoying supply ships out of Iceland bound for England. He saw the sinking of the first American ship in the war, as the destroyer in front of his was torpedoed by a U-Boat. Attaining Lieutenant Commander Grade, he received a commendation for meritorious conduct during the French invasion.

After the war, he went to Columbia Law School. On graduating, he joined the firm White & Case, where he practiced forty years (thirty as Partner), specializing in Trusts and Estates. Periodically running several offices, Farr was based mostly in New York.

Farr chaired the Commonwealth Fund, a prominent health-care foundation, which administers the Harkness Fellowships. He was on the Board of Visitors at Columbia Law School (receiving their Alumni Medal), and trustee of the Wildlife Conservation Society and St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital, among other organizations.

He was involved in the Episcopal Church , serving as Warden at St. James’ Church , Counsel to the General Theological Seminary, and Chancellor to the Presiding Bishop, advising on canonical law relating to women’s ordination.

His marriage to Mary Randolph Rue in 1946 ended with her death in 1980. He then wed Muriel Tobin Byrnes in 1990. She survives him, along with four children from his first marriage, four stepchildren, eleven grandchildren, and seven step-grandchildren.

White & Case Chair Hugh Verrier commented: “Sims always cut a dashing figure in his long tennis whites at firm outings, [like] an F. Scott Fitzgerald character, about whom one partner said to an associate, ‘Have you met Sims Farr? You haven’t lived until you’ve met Sims Farr!’ There was truth in those words.”

His funeral will be held Tuesday in Charleston, and a Memorial Service on Tuesday, January 15th , 11AM, at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Manhattan.