John Robert James, Jr.

John Robert James, Jr. died peacefully on May 8, 2025, at his home of 51 years in Exton, PA at the age of 87. He was the son of J. Robert, Sr. and Dorothy (Biddle) James of Wallingford, PA. John graduated from Westtown School in 1955 and from Colgate University in 1959; he received an M.B.A. from the Wharton Graduate School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1962. John was a skilled soccer, basketball and baseball player at Westtown School and excelled on the soccer team at Colgate University.

From 1962 to 1964 he served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer, spending twenty months in Chile on a Community Development Project. Upon returning from Chile, John worked at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. For the next 30 years, he worked for the James G. Biddle Company (started by his maternal grandfather) in Plymouth Meeting, PA, where one of his positions was International Sales Manager.

Following in his parents' civic-minded footsteps, John served in the following volunteer capacities: he worked on the construction of houses for displaced people in Germany; spent twelve weeks as the translator for a young Peruvian girl who came to the U.S. with her mother for reconstructive surgery; served as a tutor and mentor for a high school senior; and was a volunteer in 2000 in New Hampshire for Bill Bradley in his quest for the U.S. Presidency. He served on various committees, including Exton Little League, Exton Fire Department, Media Friends Meeting, Friends Hospital, Media Providence Friends School, Westtown School Board of Trustees and Westtown School Alumni Association, of which he was the President from 1986 to 1988.

John loved to travel and explore other countries and cultures. He visited 62 countries and 49 states (missing only South Dakota due to his bus breaking down on the way). He spoke German and Spanish and proudly used those skills whenever he could.

John will be remembered for his singular sense of humor. His sharp wit, one-liners and comedic timing could light up a whole room, de-escalate a stressful situation or just make you chuckle in a one-on-one conversation.

He loved connecting with others. He believed in preserving and investing in friendships and community relationships, enthusiastically connecting you to someone he may have met only once.

John was a life-long Phillies and Eagles fan, an avid reader and had various obsessions (Gandhi, naming actors in random movies, trivia, filming openings of interstates). Most important, he had a propensity to employ gratuitously convoluted words and sentences when uncomplicated expressions would suffice.

Indeed, words were a passion of John's: he encouraged his children to use words like "perspicacious" and "subsidize" in their middle-school homework assignments. To know John was to fear making a grammar mistake in his presence but also to appreciate his grammar lessons when they mattered. He loved words so much that he wrote the core of his own obituary several years ago.

Finally, John will be remembered for his deep love of Westtown School, the school his Quaker ancestors helped build and the majority of his family attended. Long after he graduated - up until even this year - he could be found at Westtown basketball games and alumni events.

Even with John's extensive life experiences and achievements, he was most proud of his family. He is survived by his wife Dixie (Donaldson) James; his son John Robert James, III (Faith), daughter Christina Ballard James; daughter Leigh Biddle James Castaños (Ryan); four grandchildren: Addison Ruth and Hadleigh Parker James and Dorothy Carmel and Alexander Biddle Castaños; and a host of beloved nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his father (J. Robert James in 1992), his mother (Dorothy Biddle James in 1985) and his three older sisters (Mary James Hetzel in 2002, Caroline James Herrin in 2012 and Margaret James Holt in 1979).

John had hoped his memorial service would be at Connie Mack Stadium, the former stadium of the Phillies. Unfortunately for him, it was torn down in 1976; fortunately for the rest of us, he lived almost five decades after that and will be sorely missed.

The Memorial Service for John will be held in the Friends Meeting House at Westtown School, West Chester, PA on Saturday, September 13, 2025 at 2pm, with a reception on campus to follow. Friends and family from near and far are invited to join.

Directions: Friends Meeting House (https://www.westtown.edu/ directions #7 on the map) at Westtown School, West Chester, PA. Use East Entrance Parking Lot (https://g.co/kgs/PhMPkTt) for Meeting House parking. (GPS address for East Entrance: 1400 Johnny's Way, West Chester, PA 19382).

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that donations be made to Westtown School (https://www.westtown.edu/giving/) and/or Media Fellowship House (https://mediafellowshiphouse.org/join-us-in-action/) in his memory.