James Robert Byron

Thursday, 05 November 2009 10:36

James Robert Byron of Waterbury died of natural causes Monday, November 2, surrounded by family. He was 82.

Mr. Byron was born March 15, 1927, in Gloversville, N.Y., to James Joseph Byron and Margaret Weaver Byron. He was the eldest of three children born to the Byrons. Mr. Byron grew up in Gloversville and graduated from Gloversville High School in 1945, where he played varsity baseball and basketball, and was student body president. Shortly after, he joined the United States Army Air Force and subsequently spent part of his military service in Guam.

After Mr. Byron was honorably discharged from the Army, he enrolled at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduated from there in 1951 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. In 1960, he was authorized to practice as a professional engineer by the Texas State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers. Mr. Byron was a member of AIChE, the Washington International Business Council and the Society of American Military Engineers.

In 1951, Mr. Byron accepted a position with Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Akron, Ohio. He and his growing family soon moved to Houston, Texas, where, while active in the St. John’s Presbyterian Church, they lived until late 1959, when Mr. Byron accepted a two-year assignment in Melbourne, Australia.

After returning to the U.S. with his family late in 1962, Mr. Byron joined Fluor Corporation in Los Angeles, Calif. In 1965, he and his family moved to London, England, the site of Fluor’s international sales office. They returned to the U.S. in the summer of 1971, where Mr. Byron worked in the New York sales office and lived with his family in New Canaan. In 1979, Mr. Byron returned to London as head of Fluor Corporation’s international sales force, with offices throughout the world.

Mr. Byron retired to Mclean, Va., where he found work as a docent for the National Gallery of Art until he ended his involvement there in 2007.

Throughout his life, Mr. Byron was “gracious, a true gentleman and, without a doubt, a renaissance man,” said his family.

“His love of history, art, etiquette, classical music, America and family came through to all who knew him throughout his life,” they added.

“Bompie,” as Mr. Byron was known to his family after his first grandchild was born, is survived by his wife Isobel; his four children, James, Jonathan, Lynn and Mark, and his eight grandchildren: Caroline Byron, James Wilson, Molli Byron, Charlotte Wilson, Andrew Byron, Reid Byron, Robert Wilson, Kristen Byron and William Wilson, a grandson who predeceased him.

He is also survived by his younger sister and brother, Mary Hunt and Patric Byron; his son-in-law Don Wilson (husband of Lynn); daughters-in-law Susan Byron (wife of Jon) and Michele Byron (wife of Mark).

He adored his two late cats Soba and Sheba, said his family.