From my first meeting with Jim, when he was a 21-year-old Wall Street Journal summer intern (with front page articles in the summer of 1967,) it was crystal clear that Jim was bound for glory. It was also apparent that his extraordinary care for his mother and his siblings marked him apart from many of his careless and carefree classmates at Yale. That was the year that, as Scholar of the House, Jim flew to Paris to interview Jean-Paul Satre.
While most of his college classmates avoided the military draft, the summer of 1968 found Jim in basic training in the United States Army, learning to eat a "meal" in 15 seconds. After his courageous service in Germany, while his law school classmates were free to concentrate on their studies at Yale Law School, Jim was caring for his four younger siblings after their mother's untimely death in 1971, while also racking up an academic record so stellar that it was rewarded by the highest honor accorded recent law graduates, a coveted clerkship at the United States Supreme Court.
His life was only enhanced by his brilliant and loving marriage to the extraordinary Lynda. In his happy and rewarding later years, Jim continued to write books, represent world-renowned clients and spend his leisure weeks at his and Lynda's glorious villa in the South of France, enjoying the fruits of their labors in a style unimagined by those not fortunate enough to have sampled the wonders of time in timeless Provence.
Some might view Jim's life as epitomized by the title of the 1954 Kingsley Amis novel, "Lucky Jim," but to those who knew him from his youth, there were precious few indicia of luck back then -- except, of course, for his compassion; his love for his family of origin, later extending to the fine family he lovingly created with Lynda; his off-the-charts intelligence, always sheathed in immense modesty; and his exemplary character and moral compass. And...his wonderful sense of humor!
It has been a profound honor and a deep pleasure to have known James Nelson Gardner, and I will be forever grateful that our paths crossed not only in our youth, but continued to do so for the next 54 years. What a blessing his life was to all who knew him. He will live forever in our hearts and minds as an admirable example of all that a great human being can be. No greater man has ever lived than Jim Gardner.
May God bless and grant comfort to Jim's beloved Lynda, as well as to their adored children, Rachel and Joe, and grandchildren, Anza and Elio, and to the sisters and brother he so loved, Dolly, Ruth Louise, Esther, and John -- knowing how much love, joy, tenderness, and beauty they added to Jim's life.
And God bless you, dear Jim, forever and ever.