Necrology

James Stinson Scott, Jr. '52

Apr. 9, 1930-Jun. 1, 2021

James Stinson “Jim” Scott, Jr. ’52 died on June 1, 2021, in Fox Point, Wis. Born in Philadelphia on April 3, 1930, he was raised in Rochester, N.Y. Coming to the Hill in 1948, he joined Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and majored in psychology and public policy. He became a member of the football team in his first year and played all four seasons. Lacrosse got his attention as a junior, and he was a member of that team for the last two years of his time at Hamilton. Not surprisingly, he was a member of the Block “H” Club all four years. He was on the staff of The Spectator beginning as a sophomore and was sports editor in his senior year. For the same period, he also served on the staff of The Hamiltonian.

Following graduation, Jim attended the University of Colorado Law School for one year, while also, as he would later write, “attending the Colorado ski slopes.” Subsequently drafted into the Army, he was assigned to the U.S. Signal Corps and spent 15 months in Europe as a company clerk and battalion legal assistant, an experience that, among other things, cultivated his love of the French countryside. Discharged in September 1955, he worked for six months in the personnel department of the Philco Corp. before moving in 1956 to the sales training department of the U.S. Rubber Co. located in Milwaukee. The Milwaukee area would be his home for the rest of his life. 

After working for Kaiser Aluminum for four years, he took a position with a division of E.R. Wagner Manufacturing in 1961. That same year, he married Marilyn Joanne “Mary” Weisel. In 1964, he joined the U.S. unit of Wacker Neuson Corp., a manufacturer of construction equipment based in Germany. He would become vice president for sales and marketing before leaving the company 20 years later.

It was in 1984 that Jim and his wife purchased Sterling Hendley Equipment, which manufactured light-duty handling equipment for the construction industry. The Sterling “Tough Guy” brand of wheelbarrow was reputed to be among the best products of its kind. 

Active in Milwaukee’s North Shore Rotary Club and Christ Episcopal Church, Jim was also a member of Milwaukee’s Curling Club. He and Mary were supporters of the Milwaukee Symphony, the Milwaukee Public Museum, and the Chicago Art Institute.

Reflecting on his years on the Hill in his Hamilton 40th reunion yearbook, Jim recalled participating in pick-up hockey games at the Sage Rink, Professor Thomas Johnston inexplicably passing one of his loafers around the seminar table during an advanced English class, and organizing “a short-lived poker operation at Lambda Chi Alpha.” Short-lived because, apparently, Dean Tolles intervened. Of his experience as a whole, he observed that “even though it encompassed nine months [at a time] for four years versus a lifetime — this Shangri-la has helped guide me through professional and personal successes and disappointments.”

James S. Scott, Jr. is survived by his wife, two daughters, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. 

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