Sagaponack summer resident James F. Trees died of heart failure on June 2 in Tiburon, California. He was 69.
A graduate of Harvard, he earned a doctorate of philosophy in international finance. Soon after, he founded and became chairman and chief executive officer of Fischer, Francis, Trees & Watts, Inc., a New York investment firm that managed funds for leading universities, pension funds and foreign governments.
During his time in New York he served as director of Lombard Odier, Ltd. in London, director of the former Group for South Fork, now known as Group for the East End, and a trustee of the C.J. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology. At age 40, Mr. Trees left New York to pursue his passion for conservation and the outdoors.
In 1981, Mr. Trees built Trees Ranch, and Springdale Fruit Company, the first organic apple orchard in Utah. In 1985, he founded and chaired the Grand Canyon Trust, an organization devoted to the restoration and protection of the Colorado Plateau and Grand Canyon. In addition, he served on the faculty of Harvard Business School, and was a member of the Harvard Faculty research team on the Central American Common Market. In those same years he also independently organized a 500-unit low-income housing development for the indigenous peoples of Guatemala.
In June 1992, he formed Brian Head Resort Inc., a company that owns and operates the largest ski and summer resort in southern Utah, serving as chief executive officer up until his death.
A single father, Mr. Trees moved in 1997 with his two young children from his ranch in Utah to San Francisco. He served for six years as trustee of the Katherine Delmar Burke School and chaired the board’s master plan committee.
Survivors said last week that being a visionary, creator, outdoorsman, businessman and devoted father made Mr. Trees a larger than life figure to countless friends across the country.
He is survived by two daughters, Willow and Sierra Trees of California; a brother, John Trees of Illinois; and a sister, Joanne Davis, also of Illinois
A memorial service will be held on July 23 at Mr. Trees’s summer home in Sagaponack.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Grand Canyon Trust, 2601 North Fort Valley Road, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001 would be appreciated by the family.
on Jun 30, 2008