JAMES WILSON FREEMAN

1925 - 2021

FREEMAN, James Wilson Oct. 20, 1925 - March 1, 2021 A resident of Cambridge for 70 years, died peacefully on March 21 at age 95 in Sudbury, MA. He was an accomplished architect, advocate for architectural preservation, husband, and father.

Jim grew up in Germantown, Philadelphia, where his first job was selling eggs from the family farm in Maryland to city neighbors. After a stint in the Marine Corps, he graduated from Brown University. Although he'd been raised to join the family auction company, he chose a different path and got a Master's degree in architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design. In Cambridge, he met and fell in love with Ann Ramsdell. They married in 1951 and were devoted to each other all their lives - their 70th anniversary would have been in June this year. James and Ann raised their four sons and a string of golden retrievers in Cambridge.

Jim thrived as one of the principals in small, client-centered architecture practices, culminating in his work with Freeman, Brigham, and Hussey. He designed buildings for Cushing Academy, Shady Hill School, Concord Academy, Wheelock College, and Emerson College, as well as the Riverview apartment complex on Mt. Auburn Street, and private residences in the greater Boston area.

Throughout his life, family farms in Maryland and New Hampshire were an important part of the family history. Jim worked tirelessly to preserve and protect the houses and the farmlands and forests around them. After retirement, he engaged in wider efforts to protect the architectural heritage of Cambridge, where he lived for over six decades, until moving into assisted living care in Sudbury in 2019.

Jim and Ann opened their home to young people visiting the US as graduate students, visiting architects and scholars, and au pairs. Later, they enjoyed traveling the world, often visiting people they had hosted in younger years. On their travels to family and friends, Jim was game to try anything, from kayaking in Glacier Bay to playing the alpenhorn in Switzerland at his granddaughter's wedding.

Jim had a remarkable talent for getting to know people by showing genuine interest in their lives. People meeting him for the first time found themselves deep in conversation with a good listener, a man who stayed curious and open to learning new things throughout life. Jim and Ann shared an enthusiasm for music, especially the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where they cultivated relationships with fellow season-ticket holders seated nearby. In later years, he and Ann would make daily pilgrimages to Fresh Pond with their dog, Aengus, where they made many two- and four-footed friends.

Jim is survived and missed by his wife Ann, sons and spouses Donald (Kathleen Graves), David, John (Martha Welbourn), and Will (Bradley Nixon), grandchildren Laura (Johann Hutzli), Emily, Lindsey, Sarah, and Nick Freeman, and great-grandchildren Madeleine and Claire Freeman Hutzli. Duckett - J. S. Waterman & Sons

Home of Memorial Tribute

Sudbury 978-443-5777

Duckett-Waterman.com