SIMPSON, James (Jay) B(easley) 1926-2002

OBITUARY NOTICE— See index for CA sketch: Born September 13, 1926, in Mansfield, AR; died from complications following a stroke March 11, 2002, in Washington, DC. Priest, journalist, and author. Simpson was a rector and chaplain who also reported for the church periodicals The Living Church and Church Times. A reporter by training, he earned a journalism degree from Northwestern University in 1949 and also studied for a year at the University of Edinburgh. After working as a reporter and editor for United Press International and then as a journalist for the Associated Press in the early 1950s, he left reporting for a time to be an account supervisor for Grant Advertising in New York City from 1954 to 1957. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he found other work as an account supervisor and also in public relations for New York City firms. In 1967, however, Simpson left secular life behind and was ordained an Episcopal priest. From 1967 to 1970, he was a curate for Christ Church in Rye, New York, and from 1970 to 1980 was the church's rector. In 1980, Simpson reentered the publishing world as director of the Episcopal Book Club and editor of Anglican Digest until 1984. An associate at St. Michael's Church in New York City from 1983 to 1986, he moved on to Ascension and St. Agnes in Washington, D.C., in 1988. That year, he started work as the Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Church Times; in 1995 he also served as Washington correspondent for The Living Church. Other posts held by Simpson included serving as chaplain at Georgetown Retirement Residence in 1990 and as interim rector at St. Alban's Church in Tokyo in 1991. During his career, Simpson was the author or editor of several religious works, including The Hundredth Archbishop of Canterbury (1962), a number of editions of Simpson's Contemporary Quotations (1957; fourth edition, 1997), Stars in His Crown: A Centennial History of the Community of St. John Baptist (1976), and, with George H. Eatman, A Treasury of Anglican Art (1998).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Washington Times, March 15, 2002, p. B2.