James Herbert Ryan

James H. Ryan, Ph.D, Lt. Col., Ret., graduated from the West Point U.S. Military Academy in 1955, commissioned in the Infantry. He served in combat in both the Korean and Vietnam wars and was decorated 7 times for bravery and meritorious service in combat. As a Lt. Colonel, he was assigned to the office of the chief of personnel on the Army General Staff in the Pentagon where he was awarded the Legion of Merit. Jim retired from the Army in 1972 and went to work in his brother’s worldwide business for a few years; after that he took over a small security guard agency in the Washington, D.C. area which he built up to about 300 guards and started an international security consulting business. He earned an MA at the University of Pennsylvania in both English Language and English Literature and spent 3 years teaching English and formal logic at West Point. He attended Harvard Business School, completed an MBA from George Washington University and finished work for his Ph.D.
Jim served on the International Board of Governors of the USO (United Services Organization) for 9 years. He returned to his hometown of Petersburg where he was a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. In 1993 he was elected President of The International Association of Professional Security Consultants, President of the Historic Petersburg Foundation and President of the Rotary Club of Petersburg, Virginia. Jim wrote articles on security in a variety of publications, and was admitted as a forensic expert witness in both state and Federal courts. He wrote articles and lectured on Petersburg and Virginia history. He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of Rotary International.
As a cadet at West Point, Jim was soloist with the West Point Glee Club and performed in Carnegie Hall multiple times, on the Ed Sullivan Show, and in the Hollywood movie, The Long Grey Line. An airplane pilot, Jim was an avid sailor, a cross country skier, and held a black belt in Tang Soo Do. He spoke more than a dozen languages.
In 2013, Jim moved with his wife Patricia Abbott-Ryan (deceased in 2015) to Tallahassee, Florida, where his only child, Pamela Ryan, is the viola professor in the College of Music at Florida State University. In Tallahassee he continued his lifelong commitment to Rotary, led food bagging teams for Second Harvest and was an active member of West Point support organizations. Jim is survived by Pamela Ryan, daughter, and Aziz Al-Doory, grandson.
Burial Service will be on Wednesday, Sept. 18, at 10am at the historic Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia.