Necrology

James Prescott Balch '55

Feb. 24, 1933-Apr. 5, 2021

James Prescott Balch ’55 died peacefully at the Siegenthaler Center in New Hartford, N.Y., on April 5, 2021. Born in Utica on Feb. 24, 1933, he came to Hamilton from the Berkshire School in Sheffield, Mass.

Balch majored in public policy and was a member of Sigma Phi fraternity. He was active in various student publications all four years on the Hill, acting as advertising manager as a junior and business manager as a senior. As a sophomore, he played on the junior varsity basketball team and began two years of service as a member of the Student Admissions Committee. He was a member of Nous Onze during his final two years at the College.

Drafted into the U.S. Army, he served for two years and thereafter was a member of the U.S. Army Reserves. Following active duty, he returned to Utica and by 1958 was employed in his family’s business, Horrocks-Ibbotson, at the time one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of fishing tackle and related products. By then he was engaged to Gretchen Marcy of Wilmette, Ill., whom he would marry before the year was over, a marriage that lasted 63 years. They took up residence in Clinton.

By 1963, he had risen to the position of vice president of Horrocks-Ibbotson and five years later became its president. After the family sold the business in 1970, Balch bought the Dragon Fly Fishing Tackle Company of Sumter, S.C., relocating there for four years.

In 1973, Balch left the business world for that of private education, returning to Sheffield, Mass., and the Berkshire School where he would serve as chief financial officer and director of develop­ment until his retirement in 1996. Gretchen served on the faculty of the school and later was its dean of students. For his service to Berkshire, he was honored as Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 1993.

Following retirement, the couple returned to Clinton while spending winters at Treasure Cay in the Bahamas. Having been a member of the Sadaquada Golf Club in Whitesboro, N.Y., since 1954, he continued to play both there and, during the winter months, at Treasure Cay. Up until the summer of 2020, he was able to shoot his age. Tennis, entertaining friends, and hosting family visits were also highlights of his life in the Bahamas, where he was also noted for his mastery of a rather potent island cocktail: the Goombay Smash. Containing three different rums, apricot brandy, and accessorized by orange and grapefruit juices, this was clearly a libation to be reckoned with (imbiber’s discretion is advised).

Balch had a long history of community service in the Utica area including donating time to the United Way, the Hamilton Alumni Council, the House of the Good Shepherd, the Kirkland Art Center, and Utica College, where for a time he served as director of the Utica College Foundation. At one time he also served as a trustee of the Berkshire School.

Balch is survived by his wife, three children, including son Thomas Balch ’81, 10 grand­children, and two great-grandchildren. Other survivors include his brother Richard Balch ’58, his sister Cynthia and her husband Tim Colt ’53, niece Susan Blach ’89, and nephew Richard Balch, Jr. ’85.

 

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