James Bruce Cappio

Born July 24, 1941 to Jildo Elmo and Anne Bruce Cappio in Montpelier, Vermont, Jim was the oldest of three children. With sisters Jill Anne and Jane Linda, he spent his formative years in the Washington, D.C. area, graduating from Fall Church High School in 1959. From there, he followed in his father's footsteps (Dartmouth ’32) to attend Dartmouth College, where he was a renowned bridge player (including playing with John Kemeny, co-inventor of BASIC and future Dartmouth president) and a member of the Phi Psi fraternity. He continued to support the school throughout his life, conducting alumni interviews and serving as an ambassador to interested candidates from around the world.

After college, Jim earned his master’s degree from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business in 1967 where, as one classmate once said, when he came into the room “things happened.” Just as with his undergraduate alma mater, Jim displayed a passion for the school throughout his life, staying intimately involved through recruiting and support for numerous school initiatives. Over four and half decades, Jim also served as the Class of 1967 Secretary, a record of service for which he was recently honored when his classmates renamed their class gift the “Class of 1967 Jim Cappio Scholarship Fund”.

During graduate school, Jim enlisted in the Air National Guard, and while working at the Pentagon, he met the love of his life, Claire McCorquodale of McLean, Virginia, whom he wed on September 9, 1967. Jim deployed to Vietnam after his unit was called to active service following the Pueblo incident in early 1968. A proud, yet often conflicted veteran, Jim would spend the rest of his life trying to prove that a handshake and a joke would get you much farther than any alternative during contentious times.

After his military service, Jim embarked upon a successful business career in marketing, brand management, and consulting that spanned four decades, numerous industries, and four continents. One of the things of which he was most proud in his professional life was his company at the time, W.S. Tyler, being one of the first to begin operating in the former Soviet Union in the early-1990s. Over the next decade and, despite no formal language or cultural training, Jim forged lifelong partnerships and friendships with people in countries he had been told his entire life were the enemy. In recognition of his contributions, he was eventually named honorary president and chairman of Mekhenobr, a company which he helped privatize and which operates to this day.

Towards the end of his professional life, Jim transitioned to a career of teaching business as an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina Upstate. Born with the gift of gab and a lifetime of knowledge and experience, he was a dedicated teacher who captivated his students and helped a number of local businesses launch formal management training programs.

In retirement, Jim became very involved in his church, St. Philips Episcopal, devoting his time to helping build the new parish and lending his less than angelic, but nevertheless inspiring, voice to the choir. During his free time, Jim was a terrible but enthusiastic golfer, a voracious reader, and a stranger to no one. He built and maintained lasting friendships with classmates, work colleagues, neighbors, and fellow parishioners.

Above all, Jim was a devoted husband and father. During their 50 years together, he and Claire raised four sons, Jim, Adam, Matt, and Clay, while spending time in New Jersey, Connecticut, Memphis, and Chicago, before finally settling in Greenville, SC. He was additionally blessed with three daughters-in-law, Gretchen, Tracey, and Kelly, and six beautiful grandchildren, Beatrice, Julia, Allison, Courtney, Peter and Georgia, to whom he was affectionately known as “Banda”.

Jim's family and friends will gather to remember his life at Christ Church Episcopal in Greenville, SC on March 24, 2018 at 2:30 PM. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association through Jim’s team, “Capp’s Crusaders”, a participant in the annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s, by copying this link into your browser http://bit.ly/2HhZhEg