Henry Norman "Jim" Eyre Jr.

EYRE, Henry Norman "Jim", Jr. Henry Norman "Jim" Eyre, Jr., completed his life in style, just as he lived every moment of it. A resident of Manhattan and Columbia County, NY, Jim succumbed to gastric cancer with grace and dignity, Saturday (February 21, 2009) at his home in New York City. He was 78. A fine homebuilder, furniture restorer, doll house maker, antique collector, consummate dancer, avid gardener, tennis player, writer and editor of historic journals, Jim was a man of many talents, but none greater than his gift as a husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend. Jim was a longtime resident of Farmington, where he and his late wife Barbara Blount Eyre raised their four children. A graduate of the Taft School ('48) and Yale University ('52), Jim spent four years with the U.S. Army in occupied Germany. He married Barbara in 1957 in New York, and spent his early professional career with Owens-Corning and Look Magazine. The magazine moved Jim and his family to Hartford, where upon the closing of the magazine, he set out on his own, acquiring a small commercial construction concern and building it into the W.T. Whale Company, Inc., one of the area's premier fine homebuilders and commercial construction companies. Fifteen years later he sold the company and spent the final years of his career as a consultant specializing in museum interiors and environmental construction. Following the untimely death in 1993 of Barbara, his beloved wife of 35 years, Jim married Ruth Scott von Wiesenthal of New York in 1997. The Eyres have divided their time between their homes in Manhattan and Columbia County. For the past eight years, Jim has been a board member of the Columbia County Historical Society, and was the founder and editor of the award-winning magazine "Columbia County History & Heritage". Jim was the founder, chairman and tireless champion of the Society's current capital campaign to restore the landmark James Vanderpoel House to serve as a center for Columbia County history. His efforts will provide a lasting legacy for this essential community treasure. In 2006, Jim was appointed as a Trustee of the New York State Archives Partnership Trust. Jim is survived by his beloved wife Ruth Scott Eyre; sister Elizabeth Eyre Taylor; twin sister Jane Eyre Repp; sister-in-law Madeleine Douglas Blount; daughters Lucy E. Lindeyer, T. Leigh Eyre, Melanie E. Christie and son William B. Eyre; and eight loving grandchildren, Alex Marston, Warren Marston, Hanna Lindeyer, Samuel Lindeyer, Gray Christie, Boden Christie, Ramsay Eyre and Chapin Eyre. Jim will be missed by his many dear friends in Connecticut, New York and throughout the world. A Memorial Service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, February 28, at the Dutch Reformed Church, 88 Route 9H, Claverack, New York. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Jim Eyre Memorial Fund, Columbia County Historical Society, P.O. Box 311, Kinderhook, NY 12106.