James Cunningham Sargent
1916 – 2008
By Sarah Sargent
On Friday evening, January 11, James Cunningham Sargent departed this life at home, surrounded by his family.
Jim embodied all those qualities that have secured his
rightful role as one of what Tom Brokaw identified as “The Greatest Generation
Ever”. He was kind and generous to all, a consummate optimist, and a man of the
highest integrity. These characteristics served him well during his life and
distinguished career as an attorney specializing in Securities Law. Among other
achievements, Jim was appointed by President Eisenhower as commissioner of the
Securities and Exchange Commission in 1956. During his tenure at the SEC, he
traveled extensively throughout the country. In later life, he would declare
with pride that he had spent at least one night in every state of the
Jim was born on February 26, 1916 in
Jim’s first year at UVA was a social success but an academic
disaster. Returning north for the summer, he received such a stern reproach
from an uncle that he immediately headed back to
Jim was in what he referred to as the law school’s “great
class of 1940” with lifelong friends including Collins Seitz, later Chief Judge
of the Third Circuit, and Mortimer M. Caplin who was Commissioner of Internal Revenue under presidents Kennedy
and Johnson. At his graduation another classmate’s father, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, delivered his famous remonstrance at the Nazi invasion
of
A proud Wahoo, Jim didn’t drink a drop of alcohol while a
student. He was the original “designated driver” ferrying around Kappa Sigma
fraternity brothers in his Model T. He had entered into a pact with his mother
to neither smoke nor drink while at college. On graduation, she presented him
with a check for $1,000, a considerable sum at the time. He used it to travel
throughout
During World War II, Jim was stationed in
Jim was always a loyal alumnus; he served as president of the
Law School Alumni Association, personally donated generously and was
instrumental in raising funds from his fellow alumni. He served as president of the Law
School Alumni Association from 1983 to 1985.
Jim’s professional life took him to Wall Street and Midtown
Manhattan, where he was a founding partner of Parr, Doherty, Polk
& Sargent which subsequently merged into Whitman & Ransom. His practice
frequently took him to
Jim was a frequent lecturer for the American Bar Association and the Practicing Law Institute where he annually participated on the panel “The SEC Speaks,” often bringing to bear his strong anti-regulatory views fostered in the Eisenhower administration. He was proud to have co-authored an article on the subject with his son, James Cunningham Sargent, Jr. that was published in the UVA Law Review. Chief Justice Rehnquist made reference to the article in his Blue Chip Stamps Opinion.
Jim enjoyed a wonderful zest for life. His motto, taught to him as a young boy by his Uncle Ziegler and passed onto all his children and grandchildren, was “take your good time with you.” Whether playing a spirited game of tennis, visiting the Taj Mahal in the hot season, or camping with his children in the pouring rain, the spirit of fun, adventure and good sportsmanship were of paramount importance. No one enjoyed a good joke like Jim. He once convinced a stewardess on a transatlantic flight to serve his daughter fake rubber eggs and had been known to short sheet a bed or two in his day. Assuming the role of his alter ego, “Smith Andrews Roberts”, formidable outdoorsman and adventurer, he would regale his young children and their cousins with tall tales about his exploits.
A dapper man, Jim was rarely seen without a tie. He was not afraid of bright color and bold pattern. His sartorial panache has been passed down to all five of his grandsons. Jim was very proud of his Scottish heritage and often wore the Cunningham kilt. He was a member of the St. Andrews Society. An avid dancer, he and Becca were members of the Waltz Society of New York for over 40 years. Other memberships include the Farmington Country Club, the Watch Hill Yacht Club, the New Haven Lawn Club and the University Club and Downtown Association of New York.
Last summer was the first one since he was a young boy that
he was not able to visit his family camp in
He leaves his devoted wife of 64 years, Rebecca Porteous Jackson Sargent; son, Stephen Denny Sargent of St.
Petersburg, FL; daughter-in-law, Julie Graham Sargent of Tampa, FL; James
Cunningham Sargent, Jr. and his wife, Paige Katherine Turner of West Chester,
PA; daughter and son-in-law Felicity Sargent Blundon and Carroll Marbury Blundon of Somerset,
Virginia and daughter, Sarah Blanchard Sargent of Charlottesville; his brother
and sister-in-law, John Moffat Sargent and Janet Hutton Sargent of New Haven,
CT; sister-in-law, Nancy Jackson Seiberling, of Iowa
City, IA; first cousins, Roderick Morrison Engert of
Washington, DC; Willard Cole Rappleye and his wife, Marita Rappleye of Aiken, SC; and
Elizabeth Rappleye Cook of Remsen, NY; ten
grandchildren; 13 nieces and nephews and many friends. In lieu of flowers the
family requests that donations be made to the Hospice of the Piedmont or the