Henry James Obituary

Henry James passed away peacefully in his sleep on Friday, October 25th at the age of 84, following a long battle with cancer. Henry is survived by his best friend, partner and wife of 63 years, Mary Ann as well as his three children: Kathryn, Matthew, and Michael.

Patrick Henry James (“Henry”) was born in Altus, Oklahoma to Smith and Bessie James on June 5th, 1940. Henry’s father, who had been born in a covered wagon during the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889, started the first of several supermarkets in the State of Oklahoma. From a young age, as they walked around the Altus town square to the bank, Smith would give Henry a dime for each customer that Henry could greet by name, which launched Henry’s lifelong talent of building relationships with any and all. He developed an early interest in finance and at age 12 subscribed to the Wall Street Journal and in his teens was asked to give small talks to various groups in Altus about “the market.” Henry earned his undergraduate degree in finance at the University of Oklahoma, where he was also student body president and fraternity president. It was at the National Student Body Presidents conference in 1960 that Henry wandered into the wrong meeting room by mistake and met Mary Ann, and decided to stay. Henry and Mary Ann were married the following June in Montebello, California. Henry, who had been active in gubernatorial and state campaigns in Oklahoma, was then hired to be part of the Washington staff of Senator Robert S. Kerr of Oklahoma while attaining his law degree from George Washington University. When Senator Kerr died soon after, Henry was asked to remain on the staff of the new Senator, former Oklahoma Governor J. Howard Edmondson. After he passed the bar exam, Henry and Mary Ann moved to Oklahoma City where Henry was part of the well-known law firm, Fellers, Snider, Baggett, and McLean.

Becoming disenchanted with practicing law after two years, Henry decided to follow his dreams to work in finance on Wall Street. With an introduction by a friend to John Westergaard, founder of Equity Research (one of the first independent ‘sell side’ equity analyst firms), Henry flew to New York and was quickly hired by John. The siren call of deal-making, in addition to the equity bear market that was raising its head in 1967, prompted Henry and a friend to found the Westwood Group in Los Angeles in late 1967, acquire their own seat on the NY Stock Exchange, and for the next few years successfully advise on a number of corporate mergers. During that time, Henry was also appointed as the federal bankruptcy trustee for Public Leasing, a large truck leasing firm with a nationwide business that was based in Oklahoma. After three years, Henry and his partner decided to dissolve the Westwood Group, as Henry said — “with honor, if not a lot of profit,” and he then joined Alaska Interstate Corporation (the predecessor of Enstar Natural Gas Corporation) in Houston as their head of mergers.

Henry joined Goldman Sachs in 1975 as part of the investment banking division in New York. After several years covering corporate clients, Henry was asked to start a new department that focused on the needs of Goldman’s pension fund clients. Following that, Henry moved to co-head the firm’s capital markets department with Artur Walthur. In 1986, Henry became a partner of Goldman Sachs and subsequently moved to Tokyo with Mary Ann to manage Goldman Sachs Asia for the next 11 years, during which time Goldman opened a great number of offices all over Asia from Beijing and Shanghai to Melbourne and Sydney and in between. Henry and Mary Ann were always active and gracious hosts to Goldman clients and colleagues in their home during their time in Tokyo and in Hong Kong.

After twenty years with the firm, Henry (first) retired from Goldman Sachs in 1995. Henry and Mary Ann left Tokyo for Seattle, where they became active members of the Seattle arts community. Subsequently, Henry was then asked to rejoin Goldman Sachs to open and manage the firm’s new Seattle office and become an advisory director. He attempted to retire twice more, ultimately leaving Goldman Sachs at the end of 2007 but was periodically called back to advise on problem areas.

During Henry and Mary Ann’s time in Seattle, they actively gave back to the arts community. Over these twenty years, Henry served on the Boards and as co-Chairman of the Seattle Symphony and Chairman of the Seattle Chamber Music Society, and the Henry Art Gallery of the University of Washington. He was also on the Board of Directors for the Seattle Opera, and the Washington State Investment Board, and the investment committee of the Seattle Art Museum.

As one of his dearest activities, Henry also was a long-time member of the Board of Directors of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, where he served as Chairman of the Board and head of the Investment Committee for many years. Henry was an active investor in commercial real estate and small businesses in the Pacific Northwest and served on the boards of several start-up companies in both Seattle and Vancouver as well as advised a number of companies on their mergers. In addition to remaining a loyal Sooner fan, Henry sponsored a college scholarship program at University of Oklahoma for eligible high school students from Jackson County, Oklahoma. Along the way, Henry and Mary Ann collected wonderful Chinese and Japanese art and antiquities and contributed a great number to Seattle’s Asian Art Museum and other museums.

In 2019, Henry and Mary Ann moved from Seattle to Asheville, North Carolina for several years before ultimately moving to Farmington, Connecticut to be closer to family.

There will be a small, private service for close family. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Henry’s name to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington.