James Patrick Rooney died suddenly Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, while on vacation in Seattle. He had lived and worked in Thailand for the past 45 years.
Jim (aka Pat) was born April 25, 1938, in Lewiston, to Harry and Ruth (Hartley) Rooney. He attended school in Lewiston until the age of 14, when he began attending Lakeside School in Seattle. He graduated in 1960 from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., and served in the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps from 1961 to 1965. He earned a master's degree of business administration from Thunderbird (The American Graduate School of International Management) in Phoenix in 1967.
Following graduation, he joined Citibank in Hong Kong, the Philippines and Thailand from 1967 to 1976. Subsequently, he resigned to establish J.P. Rooney and Associates Ltd., a corporate and financial business advisory firm in Bangkok, Thailand. Later he founded Taxplan Ltd., a subsidiary of J.P. Rooney and Associates Ltd., in Bangkok with branches in Singapore and Hong Kong to offer personal tax services to U.S. citizens abroad. He developed a large and loyal client list that included people from across Southeast Asia.
Jim was a respected and long-standing member of the Thai and foreign business communities, where he held numerous directorships including Diamond Building Products PLC, Samitivej Hospital PLC, Bangkok Airways PLC, the American Universities Association Language Center and the Thai Country Club.
Previous appointments include the Foreign Investment Advisory Committee to two prime ministers of Thailand and the Securities Exchange Formation Committee of the Bank of Thailand. He was a founding director of the Thai Finance and Securities Association and a director of the Thai Management Association and the Board of Trade of Thailand. He was a past president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand and past chairman of the Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce (APCAC). He served on the Council of the Siam Society under Royal Patronage, the General Committee of the Royal Bangkok Sports Club and Bangkok YMCA.
He is survived by his wife, Dawn (Fairley); and his daughter, Sarah. Jim was cremated in Seattle, followed by funeral rites performed over three days at a Buddhist temple in Bangkok.
