James Oxnam, 86
James Oxnam died on Dec. 5 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan where he had been treated in the last few weeks for the sudden onset of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was 86 and had been healthy, active, and engaged until then, his friends said.
Mr. Oxnam first worked in advertising in Manhattan. A friend introduced him to East Hampton in the 1970s, and he had a second career here in real estate, culminating as a “treasured member of the sales team” at Brown Harris Stevens, his friends said.
In New York City, he was an account executive with the L.W. Frohlich Agency, then for 13 years with the Professional Services Department of Hoffmann-La Roche, and finally director of professional and educational services at the Sudler and Hennessey agency, a health-care communications firm and division of Young and Rubicam, where he rose to executive vice president before retiring. He had a bachelor’s degree in pharmacology and also worked on a master’s degree in health care communication.
Mr. Oxnam had been “remarkably active,” his friends said, in nonprofits in New York City and Palm Beach, Fla., where he spent winters, as well as East Hampton. He was a founding member of Associates for the Print Collection at the Museum of Modern Art in the city and a longtime trustee of the East Hampton Historical Society, serving for many years as chairman of its fund-raising house and garden tour. He also was co-chairman of a benefit celebration for the 100th anniversary of the Amagansett Library.
His friends called him “a fixture on the social, charitable, and philanthropic scene, wherever he went, bringing good will and an infectious sense of humor to every gathering.”
He belonged to the Bath and Tennis Club in Palm Beach, the Union Club in Manhattan, and the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett. He was a Mason with the Holland Lodge in New York City for more than 50 years.
In Palm Beach, he was active in the Society of Four Arts. He had a large art collection and was particularly interested in architecture, contemporary prints, and drawings. He loved discussing interior decorating and local real estate.
He was born in LaSalle, Ill., on May 3, 1932, the only child of Gordon Oxnam, who was from Cornwall, England, and Gertrude Hale Oxnam. He grew up in LaSalle, graduating from LaSalle Academy and going on to graduate from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, with a pharmacology degree. He also served as director of the Drug Information Center at the University of Illinois Hospital.
He had been in the Army, stationed at Tripler Army Hospital in Oahu, Hawaii, for two years between December 1954 and December 1956.
He is survived by eight second and third cousins, who live in California, Oklahoma, and Texas. “He was very stoic at times, and a tremendously dear man . . . a pleasure to know and deal with,” said Robert White, who was his accountant for more than 30 years.
Mr. Oxnam was cremated. His ashes will be placed in the memorial garden at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church here, where the Very Rev. Denis C. Brunelle will say a Mass on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Memorial donations have been suggested for the East Hampton Historical Society, 101 Main Street, East Hampton 11937.