NEW YORK TIMES OBITUARY:

SHERWOOD–James C., age 69, passed away peacefully on June 9. Eternally upbeat and matchlessly witty, Jim made friends easily and kept them forever. Jim loved the theatre and gloried in all music, from Gilbert & Sullivan to Handel to Sousa to Chuck Berry. Jim was a proud graduate of Regis High School, Yale University, and Columbia Law School and a partner at Schlam, Stone & Dolan. Devoted father of Nicholas and Frank Sherwood; loving brother of Thomas, Nancy and Richard Sherwood; pre- deceased by his cherished parents, Charles and Agnes Sherwood, whose examples of unconditional love and support guided him every day. Jim’s days were brightened by his wife, Shauna Vey, the love of his life. Donations in his memory to Regis High School or Ascension Catholic Church.

 

REMEMBRANCE BY RICHARD H. DOLAN (SM)

“Not sure whether anyone else from the class has written to tell you of the passing of James C. Sherwood, a member of Pierson ’72.  But he deserves to be remembered.

“I met Jim in 1968 when as freshmen we were both working in the Morse/Stiles dining hall. Unlike those of us who just bussed the tables, Jim wanted to work the hose cleaning off the dishes before they were washed. That was the dirtier job by far, and he liked working with and getting to know the NH  locals doing the same job. I think he sometimes fantasized about being their union organizer – clearly, a man before his time. Years later he became my law partner and we practiced together for 25 years or so. He passed away on June 9, 2020 from complications from lung cancer (even though he was never a smoker as far as I knew).

“At Yale, Jim was the printer of Pierson College (a position he relished, and he kept the Printer’s Prayer he had typeset as a poster from that time framed in his office). He also played trumpet with the Yale (not-so) Marching Band and remained involved with music for the rest of his life.  After Yale, he did two years in Hong Kong with Yale in China, and then Columbia Law School (class of ’77).  He kept the same apartment on the UWS from about that time until his passing.  His law career was entirely in NYC – first Donovan Leisure then a tax litigation boutique (Kostelanetz Ritholz) before joining my firm in 1994. He very much enjoyed getter the better of the IRS and did so regularly.

“Even more than Yale, I think his formative experience was his four years at Regis High School, the all-boys Jesuit school on Park Avenue. Like many (like me, for one), Jim fell away from any involvement with religion for a long time. But the Jesuits had planted the seed deep in him, and it bore fruit first in his life-long concern for the less fortunate and later in a renewed commitment to the Catholicism of his youth. He and his wife, Shauna Vey, joined the choir of his local parish on the UWS, and they also sang in a choral group at Lehman College. Jim and I would sometimes talk about what it meant to return to the religious practices of our youth, and the many challenges that the very idea of religious belief presents. Despite the scandals and the many reasons to walk away from the whole thing, I think he just decided how he wanted to bet on Pascal’s wager and didn’t see anything else that offered a better guide to the good life lived well.

“Jim is survived by his wife, Shauna Vey, a professor at the NYC College of Technology, and two sons (Nick and Frank). He was a good man and will be missed.”

Richard H. Dolan

Partner

Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP

26 Broadway

New York, NY 10004