“If I recover, I will do all in my power to correct the mistakes made during sickness; and if I should not, all my faults will be forgiven. Remember me to all friends…. I can scarcely bid you good bye, even in a letter. I always made an awkward bow.”
The poet John Keat’s last letter to his closest friend, Charles
Brown, November 30 1820. Keats died three months later.

Fondly remembering the good times we had together when all our “bows” were awkward.

Joe, I wish I could be there…It must be so hard to be there without Gars… I don’t think we get over missing the people so big in our lives but every dawn brings promise of good things of good people, books, times and always the huge pile of good memories from times with James.
We are thinking of you and praying(Bill is huge especially) into praying Take care, be well.

James was more of a brother than a cousin to me.
My first very clear memory of him was in Chicago, on Berwyn
Avenue where he and his family lived at the time. He was very Careful to look around before he reached over and pushed me down!! I’ll never forget it!
I was about 4, and he was about 10. I didn’t really get to know him until I was living in NYC, in my 20’s. It was a long, fun, relationship.
Miss you James

James,
You were something between a brother and an uncle to me and a little bit of a father too in the way I felt loved by you and the way I could feel you felt protective of me In the years of my childhood that we spent the most time together. You drove the Buick to the red house on Friday nights returning very late Sunday to avoid traffic. There were traditional Christmases and wild New Years Eve celebrations. There was key lime pie and polo on the lawn. There were parties on houseboats and In The Central Park zoo. There was annual breakfast at the Waldorf. There were martini lunches and corporate meetings. There was the time in your twenties when you showed up at our apartment in the middle of the night wrapped in a sheet having escaped an apartment fire and needing a place to stay. You ended up living with mom and me for some time. Your confident voice, imposing stature, good looks, quick, though often biting, wit and intelligence were inspirational to me as the soft spoken introvert, 17 years your junior, that I was. Beneath that hardened, no-nonsense exterior was a soft-hearted, generous and loving heart. That heart has stopped beating but my many fond memories of you live on. Thank you for all you have given me and the laughter and keen perspective you brought to the world.
Love,
Your cousin, Sara

Mike and Jan Powers

“There is peace here, where the river widens to meet the sea. The rapids are past; the boulders and the rocky places at last give way. The river moves silently, tastes the salty tide that marks its demise, and slips without a backward glance into the oceans’infinite embrace.”
– Danna Faulds.

It’s there, close to the ocean, where our memories of the times spent with James will always take us.

From the moment we first met in the Buffett line of a friends wedding in 1995, to the time he spend my friend Paul and I around in his “Black Forest Death Mobile”, to the many three-hour lunches at The Palm Too and the Friar’s Club, and watching the 4th of July fireworks off he and Joe’s dock (E. Pluribus Unum), and of course the words of fatherly advice-delivered with trade-mark sarcasm, but also humor-to my younger self who craved a mentor; I will always treasure knowing James Garcia. I love you and miss you, old buddy. ~Gay Carl from Buffalo

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message ‘He is Dead’.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
Auden

How I wish I could have called you today to wish you a happy 75th, James. I think of you often which usually results in a smile or even an outright laugh. You were always so sweet to me; there will always be a special place in my heart for you. We made so many wonderful memories together and I will faithfully cherish them as long as I live. I hope we meet again my dear cousin. Love, Jake

I miss my two favorite uncles. And I’m really sad I didn’t get to get a hug from the best hugger on the planet. Id you see this Uncle Joey, please email me. I ha e been trying to get in contact with you guys for years. It’s Nicolini. Nikkieromano at gmail dot com

I just heard about this, which is why it is so tardy.

Gar lightened up law school quite a bit. And we all needed it!

RIP.