Henry Norman "Jim" Eyre Jr.

EYRE--Henry Norman "Jim", Jr., 78, of Manhattan and Columbia County, NY, passed with grace and dignity Saturday, February 21, at his home in New York City. Jim was a longtime resident of Farmington, CT, with his late wife Barbara Blount Eyre and their four children. A graduate of Taft ('48) and Yale ('52), Jim held positions in sales, advertising and construction management until 1973, when he acquired the W.T. Whale Co. in Hartford, CT. As President and CEO, he built it into one of the area's premier fine homebuilders and commercial construction companies. Following his wife's death of cancer in 1993, Jim married Ruth Scott von Wiesenthal of New York in 1997. Since 2001, Jim was a board member of the Columbia County Historical Society, founder and editor of the magazine Columbia County History & Heritage, and tireless champion of the capital campaign to restore the Vanderpoel House as a center for Columbia County history. In 2006, Jim was appointed a Trustee of the New York State Archives Partnership Trust. Jim is survived by his beloved wife Ruth Scott Eyre; sisters Elizabeth E. Taylor and Jane E. Repp; sister-in- law Madeleine D. Blount; children Lucy Lindeyer, Leigh Eyre, William Eyre, Melanie Christie and eight grandchildren. A memorial service is scheduled for 11am Saturday, February 28, at the Dutch Reformed Church, 88 Route 9H, Claverack, NY. 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.