Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

James A. Newman Jr.


WEST CORNWALL —James A. Newman Jr. died in his sleep Oct. 23, 2007, after a short illness at his home in Sugarloaf Key, Fla. He was predeceased by his wife Josephine Ann Newman, to whom he was married for 60 years.

Born in Winchester, Mass., on Nov. 21, 1914, he was the son of Bertha (Waldmyer) and James A. Newman Sr.

He attended high school at Leominister High and then Phillips Exeter Academy. He earned a Bachelor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Chicago.

He loved music and played with a band in high school and college. He was an Eagle Scout, and a member of the crew team at MIT and Phillips Exeter Academy.

Mr. Newman served in World War II as a major in the Army Air Corps, and received the Legion of Merit.

He worked for Booz Allen and Hamilton in Chicago, New York and London from 1947 until he retired (about 50 years). He was president of the international division and later vice chairman.

He was the deacon at his Congregational church in Evanston, Ill., and he was president of the board of Phillips Exeter Academy.

Mr. Newman lived in West Cornwall from 1972 to 2005. He moved to Sugarloaf Key two years ago.

He was president of the Housatonic Valley Association in the 1980s and a member of the board for more than 25 years.

He served as a member of the board of Fleet Financial and Southwest Bank.

Mr. Newman also wrote a book, "Climbing the Corporate Matterhorn."

He is survived by four daughters, Katherine Newman of Maui, Hawaii, Judith Newman of Seattle, Wash., Phillis Dunbar of Northfield, Ill., and Patience Lindholm of Cornwall; and seven grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Housatonic Valley Association, PO Box 28, Cornwall Bridge, CT 06754; or Phillips Exeter Academy, 20 Main St., Exeter, NH 03833, Attn: Development Office.

A memorial service will be held in Cornwall during the week before Christmas.

Latest News

A life reshaped by clay in “Matin”

Left to right: Hannah Wheeler, Matin Malikzada and Yonah Sadeh.

D.H. Callahan

On Monday, Oct. 26, a group of students, teachers and local residents gathered at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville for a screening of the new short documentary “Matin.” The film tells the story of Matin Malikzada, a seventh-generation Afghani potter making a new life in New Milford, Connecticut. The film was made by local filmmaker Yonah Sadeh, creator of the Video Wall at the David M. Hunt Library, and Berkshires-based potter Hannah Wheeler, who were both present for the screening, along with Malikzada himself.

As a member of the seventh generation of his family to master the art of pottery, Malikzada had done things the way his family had for over a century. Istalif, the village where his family has lived for generations, was known throughout Afghanistan for its pottery, with wares sent across the country for use as everyday cups, bowls, plates and other vessels. The pottery-making families of Istalif gathered clay from the same mountain, about 30 to 45 minutes away by donkey. Every July, they would head north toward the Uzbekistan border to gather ishkar, a plant they processed by hand to make their signature glazes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Meg Sher finds her calling among the stacks

Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.

L. Tomaino

When Meg Sher came to Falls Village in 2006 from Old Lyme, Connecticut, where she grew up, she never imagined she’d someday be the executive director of the David M. Hunt Library.

Although, in hindsight, perhaps it makes sense.

Keep ReadingShow less
Crescendo’s 23rd season speaks to the heart and mind

Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of Crescendo, conducts the audience at a performance.

Steve Potter

For Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of Crescendo, music from centuries past is anything but a relic. It is a living, breathing art form, full of drama, emotional complexity and, occasionally, surprises. As the regional choral and period-instrument ensemble launches its 23rd season, Gevert is once again bringing forgotten masterpieces into the present.

“Early Music has been my lifelong passion and the focus of my specialization in Europe and South America,” Gevert said. “Bringing this repertoire to our audiences in a nuanced way that does justice to its incredible depth, intensity, and beauty is deeply important to me.”

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Close Encounters with Music celebrates 35 years of musical discovery

Close Encounters with Music’s 35th season opens with “Saluting the Clarinet” featuring clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein.

Provided

For 35 years, cellist Yehuda Hanani has been inviting audiences to experience classical music in unexpected ways. As founder and artistic director of Close Encounters with Music, Hanani has built a concert series that goes beyond the music itself, exploring connections to literature, history, politics and the human experience.

This year, Close Encounters celebrates its 35th season with “Celebration & Discovery,” a seven-concert series that opens Sunday, Nov. 1, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington.

Keep ReadingShow less
Shinbone Alley brings spooky songs to Spencertown

Seeing isn’t always believing. Sometimes it’s the lack of a defined picture that can be the most compelling. And when Alex Harvey of Shinbone Alley sings his supernaturally charged sea shanties and street ballads, the unseen will be downright scary. On Oct. 30, the historically inclined storyteller and performer will create a spooky evening of forbidden tales and yarns through a carefully chosen series of songs at Spencertown Academy of Arts.

The repertoire for the performance is a bit fraught. Over the years, Shinbone Alley has explored the world of folklore through music. Though the group usually features two musicians, Harvey, a multi-instrumentalist and singer, will be performing solo. That is, of course, unless you include the spirits.

Keep ReadingShow less
Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa meet in Sheffield
Vieux Farka Touré
Proivded

Desert winds rarely blow into the Berkshires, but on Nov. 5, they will carry the Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa music to Race Brook Lodge.

That evening, Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, often called “the Hendrix of the Sahara,” and Moroccan musician Samir LanGus will play at the lodge’s Event Barn in Sheffield, Massachusetts, at a benefit for the foundation Touré directs.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.