James Moorfield Storey died peacefully on April 16, 2022, in Scarborough, Maine. He was born April 12, 1931, to Charles Moorfield Storey and Susan Jameson Storey in Brookline, Massachusetts, and grew up among his four older siblings. A graduate of Fessenden School, Groton School, Harvard College (1953) and Harvard Law School (1956), he remained an active alumnus of all of them. He served for several years at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington DC, and then moved back to practice mutual fund law in Boston at Gaston Snow, Motley and Holt (later to become Gaston Snow Ely Bartlett). In 1987, two close friends and he established the Boston office of Dechert LLP, where he continued his law practice until his retirement. He wrote The Uneasy Chaperone with Thomas M. (Toby) Clyde, and often reminisced about his role as Sports Editor of the Harvard Crimson. Jim was a member of the Tavern Club, the Curtis Club, the Century Association, the former Lunch Club, and many more we cannot list here, and he remained engaged with several Harvard associations including the Porcellian Club, the Signet Society and all the friendships he developed and maintained throughout his life. He loved parties of all types, and served as best man in 42 weddings.
He and his first wife Adair Miller raised their five daughters in Chestnut Hill, and they welcomed friends from all over, as he was an intensely gregarious host. In 1973, he married Isabelle Boeschenstein and they moved to Beacon Hill, where they built an ever-increasing circle of friends and acquaintances. Jim served a range of roles in many nonprofits, including the Massachusetts Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the Friends of the Public Garden, Mount Auburn Cemetery, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Austen Riggs Center, Earthwatch Institute, Jackson Laboratory, the Park School, the Boston Athenaeum, and others.
He and his family spent summers on Great Cranberry Island with cousins and friends, including a growing artists’ community. It spurred his interest in art and his collection, which reflected his support and love of his friends. He and Isabelle loved sailing around the Maine seashore, especially in their little Herreshoff, the Pamplemousse. In 2000 he and Isabelle moved to Sedgwick, Maine, where they developed another circle of friends; and in 2019 they moved to South Portland. Everywhere he went, Jim charmed all he met as he found and fostered friendships, many of which lasted for decades.
He leaves his wife Isabelle B. Storey, his daughters Barbara McGrath (John), Susan Frank (Jon Eder), and Eliza Anderson (Michael), his fourteen grandchildren, Michael McGrath (Heather), Mary Adair Finney (Jake), Frances McGrath, Margaret Meley, Elizabeth Meley, Sarah Frank, David Frank, Chloe Frank (Jason), Louis Frank (Jeannie), Samuel Anderson (Leda), Charles Anderson (Kathryn), James Anderson (Christina), Ian Anderson, Heidi Thorpe, and twelve great-grandchildren. He was pre-deceased by his two brothers, Charles and Anderson, and his two sisters, Susan Storey Lyman and Gertrude Storey Bancroft, and by two daughters Mary Meley and Alice Wille. His family, including many nieces, nephews, godchildren and extended cousins, remained always close to his heart, and all will miss his warm smile and generous soul.
Services are being planned at Mount Auburn Cemetery, date to be determined. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Friends of the Public Garden About - Friends of the Public Garden.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Chad E. Poitras Cremation and Funeral Service, Buxton, www.mainefuneral.com