Obituary of James Constable

James Cheston Constable, a retired business executive, army paratrooper during World War II and lifelong supporter of his alma mater, Brown University, died March 7 at the Essex Meadows community in Essex, Ct., where he lived with his wife of 65 years, the former Priscilla Bouve McCaffrey. He was 96. Mr. Constable, known as Cheston to his friends and family, was a native of Baltimore who lived for many years in Greenwich, Ct., while working as an advertising and communications executive with the IBM Corp. in Manhattan and Armonk, N.Y.. An avid sailor and tennis player, he spent many summers on Nantucket Island and was a member of the Nantucket Yacht Club. Known as a dapper dresser and dignified figure who enlivened social occasions well into his '90s, Mr. Constable was the last surviving member of his generation in a prominent Baltimore family. A son of attorney William Pepper Constable and the former Hyla Amanda Webb, he attended the Calvert School and Gilman Country School, graduated from The Tome School in 1935, and received a B.A. from Brown in 1939. He was a competitive track runner in high school and college, and a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity. From 1942 to 1945, Mr. Constable served as a captain in the U.S. army, commanding a paratrooper training unit in the U.S. and Central Europe, and he later served as an officer in the U.S. army reserve. After the war's end he moved to Manhattan, where he met and married Priscilla, a noted fashion designer with the Henri Bendel company. She survives him, along with their son, Timothy C. Constable, a computer consultant in Watertown, Ma.; their daughter, Pamela G. Constable, a journalist and author in Arlington, Va.; and two granddaughters. A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 16th, at St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Old Lyme, Ct. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Mr. Constable's name to the Humane Society of the United States. To share a memory of James or to leave a condolence for his family, please visit www.rwwfh.com. Arrangements by Robinson, Wright & Weymer Funeral Home.