James A. Sherman

Mr. James Alan Sherman (sometimes called Jim) died at the age of 73 after an incredible 24-year battle with cancer. He passed shortly before midnight on February 24 in his home in Niskayuna, with his family. If you frequent the bike path between Lions Park and Lock 7, you very likely met Jim, along with his keeshond, and had an unexpected conversation with him. He was forever making new friends and strangers' days simply in the course of navigating errands, and his passing is a loss especially to those friends he'd yet to meet. James was born on January 28, 1945, in Montour Falls, New York, near Watkins Glen. He attended high school in Horseheads, New York, where he especially enjoyed acting in musical theatre, then briefly attended Catholic Seminary, and finally studied Political Science and English at Syracuse University. As a teen he worked as a north-shore Long Island lifeguard at a camp for Catholic orphans, sometimes taking tourists sailing when he was not teaching young girls to swim. He was drafted and served as an Army Intelligence officer in Vietnam, and his family will likely never know much about the missions he carried out in service to his country. He met his future wife, Linda, upon returning to Syracuse. They married on August 17, 1974, and spent the rest of their lives together, serving as house parents for the New York State Division of Youth for a time and frequently camping at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario. After moving to the Capital District, he worked as an MPLSM Operator and in various other roles for the US Post Office on New Karner Road, following in the footsteps of his father, a postal inspector. He retired in October 2009 and enjoyed the bike path, spoiling area birds with generous offerings through myriad bird feeders, playing UNO too much, and sitting with Linda on a patio overlooking the widest part of the Mohawk River, all the while waging heroic battle against his disease. Jim defeated countless grim prognoses, remaining with us for decades longer than the medical community thought possible. James's everyday actions demonstrated his erudition, playfulness, and poetic soul. At the drop of a hat, he would recite the prologue of The Canterbury Tales in Middle English or some other unexpected quote or reference. He sang in a beautiful baritone –– everything from hymns to showtunes to folk songs. He spoved loonerisms. He once comforted his daughter Cassie, then in college, with an anecdote from The Cherry Orchard. During his own college years, he courted Linda with extravagant gestures, like armfuls of roses plucked in the night from a campus garden –– but he impressed her equally with the brotherly love he exhibited toward perfect strangers.

James is survived by his wife, Linda Joan Sherman (née Larson); his daughter, Erin Elizabeth Sherman and her husband, Francis Michael Ostrowski Ferraro of Odenton, MD; his daughter Katherine Anne (Cassie) Sherman-Marks, her husband, Martin Sherman-Marks, and his grandchild, Samuel Alistair Sherman-Marks, of Baltimore, MD; his sister Elizabeth (Betsy) Gellert of Ossining; his sister Julianne Sherman of Silver Spring, MD; his brother-in-law Richard Larson and his wife Elizabeth Murray of Lexington, MD; his sister-in-law Laura Lee Needleman and her husband Howard (Howie) of Omaha, NE; his niece Sharman Nina Gellert of Manhattan; his nephew James Howland Gellert of Brooklyn; his niece Ingrid Yoerg Larson of Seattle, WA; his nephew Evan Charles Larson of Keene, NH; his nephew Erik Murray Larson of San Francisco, CA; his niece Molly Elizabeth Needelman of San Francisco, CA; his niece Sarah Ann Lake (née Needelman) of Omaha, NE; his nephew Joshua Loren Needelman of Omaha, NE; his daughter Erin's mother-in-law and great friend Constance (Connie) Ostrowski, of Niskayuna; and his adoring and rambunctious cat, Max. He is preceded in death by his mother, Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Conover Sherman and his father, Julian Augustus (Jay) Sherman (né Howland-Shearman) of Fairfax, VA; his brother, Charles Sherman, of Fairfax, VA; and his brother John Sherman of Belmont, MA.

All who wish to remember him or support his family are invited to James' visiting hours and funeral. Visiting hours will take place at New Comer Funeral Home, 343 New Karner Road, from 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Friday, March 2. On Saturday, March 3, following a brief service at New Comer Funeral Home at 7:45 a.m., a Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at 9:00a.m. for James at St. Kateri Tekakwitha, 1803 Union Street, Schenectady. A committal service will be held immediately after Mass at the Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery on Troy-Schenectady Road.

James's family invites you to send donations in his honor to Parks & Trails New York, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany, or to another cause that represents his compassionate spirit.