In Memoriam

Our founder, JAMES J. MORRISSEY, JR. (“Jim”), passed away on July 20, 2021 after a very brief illness.

Jim was a husband, father, and grandfather, and a friend and attorney-advisor to many.  He loved his family unreservedly.  He never met a stranger.  He gave of his time and energy without fail.  He reveled in the successes of his family and friends and offered them his unwavering support.  He was a man who had friends of all ages and in all stations of life.

He was married to Sabrina E. Morrissey for almost 33 years.  Jim has three sons, Joseph J. Morrissey, III (“Joe’), Matthew S. Morrissey (“Matt”) and and Aaron D. Schuham.  Jim embraced their spouses, Katherine, Michelle and Chris, as his own children.  He was completely connected to all of his grandchildren, Jack (who he saw 14 times the first year he was born), Grace Morrissey, Samantha, Isaiah, Aidan, Grace Schuham-Anders, and Matthew Thomas.

He was born and raised in Quincy, Illinois on the banks of the Mississippi River.  He was proud of the city, noting that it was desegregated before the Civil Rights Act and was also a stop on the Underground Railroad.  He was quick to point out that Quincy was also the site of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate on August 13, 1858.  Jim thought of President Lincoln as our greatest President and admired him immensely.

Jim enrolled in the United States Coast Guard, serving 4 years aboard The Bramble, one of three Coast Guard Cutters, the other two being The Storis and The Spar, to make the first circumnavigation of North America in one season.  The ships traveled through the Polar Ice cap to make maps for The USS Nautilus Submarine.  Jim received the Good Conduct medal and the Arctic Service Medal awarded to any member of the Coast Guard who performs twenty one days of consecutive duty afloat or ashore north of the Arctic Circle.

He went college at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and excelled, later going to. Law School, also at the University of Illinois.  Before leaving Law School, he had a job offer from Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine, a prestigious Wall Street law firm started by “Wild Bill Donovan,” a founder of the OSS, which became the CIA.  He was told to study anti-trust and insurance law, which he did.  Once he started work, however, he was asked to litigate estate matters and handle probate matters for high-net worth estates.  At Donovan Leisure, he handled all of the contested estate matters for the American Cancer Society. Eventually, Jim opened his own law firm, practicing as an attorney in New York, Illinois and Washington, D.C. up until his death.  He was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and enjoyed occasional court-watching ventures in Washington, D.C.  He completed two Advanced Negotiation courses at Harvard University.

Jim was always a voracious reader of newspapers and books, regularly sending articles of interest and gifts of books.  Before Google, he would cut out paper articles and mail them across the globe.  He enjoyed sports, history, and music.  An avid traveler, in the few years before his death, he traveled to England, Rome, Russia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Cuba, Prague, Dublin, Edinburgh, Belgrade, Belfast, and Paris, several times.