Inducted in 2015
Attorney
Hospitality Industry Executive
Member, Prep Board of Trustees (1990-1994)

Coming from the tree-lined Riverdale section of the Bronx, James Buckman arrived at the Prep by bus — the Bx20, to be precise. Born in 1944, the son of John Buckman, Jr., a railroad engineer, and Mary Dolores Ullery Buckman, a homemaker, Jim grew up on Netherland Avenue and attended St. Gabriel’s before starting at the Prep in 1958. He is one of four siblings, an older brother, John III, as well as a younger brother and a younger sister, Thomas and Harriet. All the Buckman boys would graduate the Prep: John in 1959, Jim in 1962 and Thomas in 1964.

During his time at the Prep, Jim competed with the Latin Sight Translation Team, even earning a medal or two along the way, and worked to manage and coordinate Prep events with the Dance Committee and publicity staff. He played basketball on the junior varsity and varsity levels and football under fellow Hall of Honor inductee Coach Joe "Sammy" Ososki. He was a four-year member of Student Government, an obligation he took very seriously, serving as class president during his freshman, sophomore and junior years.

The boy from Netherland Avenue was well-liked and admired during his Hughes Hall years. In the words of classmate Thomas Webber, “Jim Buckman embodied all that the Prep wanted a young man to be.”

After high school, Jim remained at Fordham for college, graduating in 1966 and going on to receive a bachelor of laws degree from Yale, a degree known since 1971 as a JD.

He began his career in law in 1969 with Dewey Ballantine, a Manhattan-based firm specializing in corporate law, and moved to Troutman Sanders, an international firm in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1974. He remained a partner with Troutman for the next eleven years. Along the way, he served as an assistant general counsel for Gable Industries in the early ’70s, and, in the ’80s, left Gable to serve as executive vice president and general counsel for the Days Inn Corporation. In 1992, he began a five-year term as senior executive vice president of the HFS Corporation, and then held various positions with the Cendant Corporation, including vice chair, from 1997-2006.  Completing his tenure with Cendant, he moved to York Capital Management in 2007, where he remained through 2011, and is currently the lead director at Windham Worldwide.

Jim has long been known for his generous spirit, and has lent and continues to lend his energy to many institutions. He has sat on the boards of the New York Philharmonic, Marymount Manhattan College — from which he holds an honorary doctorate — the Museum of the City of New York, Fordham University, and of course, Fordham Prep. As a member of the Prep’s Board of Trustees from 1990-1994, James Buckman was unstinting with his time and resources as he helped to lead the school though its sesquicentennial and to expand its facilities with the addition of Maloney Hall.  More recently, Jim has been a major force in the establishment of the Class of 1962 Scholarship, the John Vrionis ’64 Scholarship Fund and the James E Buckman ’62 Scholarship.

In fact, Buckman has always answered the call when the Prep or one of his classmates has needed assistance.  It is not without good cause that his friends and classmates referred to him as “a prince of a man” in a 2014 interview with Ramview.

James’ wife is Nancy McLaughlin Buckman, a Manhattanville alumna who holds an MPA from Cornell.  They were married in 1969 and have three daughters, Elizabeth, Anne and Julia. Anne has carried on the Buckman legacy at Fordham, earning her own Maroon credentials and a degree from Fordham Law in 2005.

Now grandparents, James and Nancy currently make their home in Manhattan where they are active members of their parish, St. Ignatius of Loyola. A man of great faith and gratitude for the many opportunities he has received, Jim also often makes time during his day for noon mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Jim once wrote that Fordham Prep is “the school we all love.” In turn, Fordham Prep is grateful for his fondness and proud to number James Buckman among its loyal alumni.