James F. Lane III
James F. Lane III, of Friday Harbor, passed away October 19, 2011 in Bellingham. He was 77.
He was born July 6, 1934 in Seattle to oil executive James F. Lane Jr. and Donna Nelson Lane. After losing his mother at an early age, Jim was raised by his second mother June I. Murray. Jim was the grandson of prominent Seattle banker James F. Lane Sr., a nephew of four US admirals, and grand-nephew of H.D Collier, founding chairman of Saudi Aramco.
Jim graduated from the University of Washington in 1956, and served as a naval officer with the US Pacific Fleet, later co-founding the Seattle public relations firm Merry, Calvo, Lane & Baker. Following the sale of MCL&B to Hill & Knowlton, he served as H&K's managing director for Australia/New Zealand, and later as a senior vice president for the firm in Seattle, Houston, Tokyo, Chicago and New York.
Jim was an advisor to three US Senators, and speechwriter for Governor Dan Evans of Washington State, President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, as well as numerous corporate CEOs. Jim was a director of the International Churchill Society, a co-founder of Young Achievement, and four-time president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia.
With his wife Sharon, he bought property on San Juan Island in 1970 and was a summer resident for many years before retiring on San Juan in 1996. He volunteered at the Library and made many friends on San Juan, and remarried happily in 2004. He loved the islands and its people.
Jim is survived by his wife, Louise G. Lane of Friday Harbor; his daughter, Nancy A. Lane of Sydney, Australia; his son and daughter-in-law, Jim F. Lane IV and Flavia M. Lane of Key Biscayne, FL; his brother and sister in-law, William M. Lane and Deirdre S. Lane of New Canaan, CT; grandchildren William P. Shaw, Alexander J. Shaw, Mitchell A. Chesher and Isabel C. Lane; great-grand children Mary E. Shaw and Boaz J. Shaw; and many nieces and nephews. His first wife, Sharon Dugan Lane, preceded him in death in 1996.