Deceased July 27, 2016

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In Memory

Jim Harris, 87, died peacefully on July 27, 2016, surrounded by his family.

Jim was born in Montclair, N.J., on March 10, 1929, and attended Montclair public schools, graduating in 1947. He received a B.A. in 1951 from Amherst and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1954.

Jim lived in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., for 35 years and summered in Warren, Conn. He practiced in law firms in New York City and as a private practitioner in housing for the poor, until his retirement in 1993.

After the death of his first wife, Joan Weidemann Harris, Jim moved to Cambridge, Mass. In 1996 he married Elizabeth Fleming.

Music was always a part of Jim’s life. He was a talented trombone player. He enjoyed the renovation of three houses in which he lived, and making toys for the grandchildren and frames for Elizabeth’s artwork. He was an excellent cook with a Chinese specialty.

Some years ago Jim joined a Witness for Peace delegation with this writer in a visit to Central America during civil war tensions. We met again years later, recuperating in Spaulding Rehab Hospital after serious events in Massachusetts General Hospital.

Jim enjoyed traveling, mostly in Europe with a stop in Denmark to visit his family. In addition to Elizabeth, he is survived by a daughter, Karen Harris Hvenegaard, and her husband, Niels; a son, Christopher Harris, and his wife, Alice Sajdera; a stepdaughter, Anne Flemings Keuper, and her husband, John; a stepson, Peter Flemings, and his wife, Ann; and grandchildren Jesse, Sean, Emily, Christina and Nicholas. He was predeceased in death by his brothers, Peter and John.

Don Sibley ’51