ADMIRAL CLUB MEMBER - JIM MORAN

Jim Moran was, first and foremost, a believer. He believed we all have an obligation to give back to our communities. He believed in second chances for everyone, especially kids who have gotten off on the wrong foot in life. He believed that hard work defines who we are, and that every individual has the capacity to change the world. He believed that human dignity is a God-given right.

While Jim had been progressively diminished in health at the end of is life, his passing April 24 still came as a shock. Like the proverbial cat, he had beat the odds several times, including a battle with melanoma, which somehow made him seem invincible. I remember watching him in his early eighties from the deck of Gallant Lady doing laps off Peters Bay in the British Virgin Islands swimming with the steady relentlessness that was his trademark in life.

More than any other characteristic, it was Jim's vision that struck me as unique. He loved to start things, to lead the pack, to be the first and to set the highest standards for others to emulate or best. It was just as true in his yachting life, as in his business career. And it certainly applied to his philanthropic activities. Jim loved a great idea, whether it was his or not, and drew immense pleasure from seeing it blossom into its full potential. Dozens of charities, including the International SeaKeepers Society, owe their start to his enthusiasm and generosity.

His vision was also manifest in the yachts he owned and loved. Jim was one of those rare owners who loved the project as much as he loved being at sea. Every boat he commissioned advanced both the esthetic and the functional elements of yacht design and construction. The day Jim died I walked my dog to the top of the hill at Gasworks Park, a beautiful oasis of green looking south over Lake Union to the Seattle skyline. Scanning the shoreline I saw a large yacht gleaming under the late afternoon sun. What drew my attention wasn't just its size, but its distinctive crow's nest and sleek styling. It took me a few minutes before I realized it was none other than Ice Bear, which had been launched as Gallant Lady, Hull #637 at Feadship's DeVries shipyard. Ice Bear is as modern and compelling a design today as she was on her launch in 1988. It is a fitting testament to Jim's legacy in yachting that a yacht he commissioned almost 30 years ago is queen of the fleet in a major yachting center 8,500 sea miles from where she was first berthed. Jim challenged his fellow yachtsmen to push the envelope and in the process changed the
very seascape of yachting.

It's hard to calculate, or even appreciate, the impact Jim had on the world. I witnessed at first hand the combined effect of his vision and generosity through his Youth Automotive Training Center, which takes young people who have started down the wrong track in life and gives them an opportunity at earning their degrees, learning a marketable trade and restoring their sense of self-worth. The YATC gives this opportunity to two dozen young men and women a year. But the profoundly positive impact the school has on the community goes far beyond the number of YATC graduates alone. Jim had appreciated how every life affects every other life and how helping just one young person become productive has a compounding benefit by improving the lives of everyone around them.

Jim's impact on my life was equally immense. He was a big supporter of ShowBoats  International, the magazine I moved to South Florida to publish and edit in 1988. Later, when I got involved raising money for marine conservation causes, he invited me to attend various fund-raisers
with he and his wife Jan to see how other organizations parlayed their passion into success. His steady friendship and generous advice were part of the very foundation of my involvement in the yachting industry.

Jim gave SeaKeepers perhaps the greatest gift. It was 2001, shortly after we had launched the Society. Jim and Jan had sailed their newest Gallant Lady across the Atlantic to receive a ShowBoats Award in Monaco. When it was Jim's turn to come up on stage, he changed the direction of our fledgling organization. Instead of thanking his builder, designers and project managers as all the previous winners   before him, he took the mike and spoke deeply and personally about the sea, what the ocean had given him and what it continues to mean to everyone on earth. He said nothing was more important than SeaKeepers' mission and he challenged everyone in the audience to join him in supporting the organization. That moment erased any doubt I had whether SeaKeepers would flourish and succeed. Last year, back in Monaco to receive the first ShowBoats Flagship Award, Jim again deflected attention from himself to the importance of saving the sea. Holding up a glass of water to the audience he said, “This, ladies and gentlemen, is the most precious thing in the world. Without it we are lost.” Jim always had a way of distilling everything to its very essence to direct our attention to what is most important.

Jim gave back in many ways both little and big. I was always touched by how he used his yachts to inspire rather than divide. He never forgot the time when as a poor kid in Chicago he was denied the chance go on a speedboat ride because he didn't have a quarter to his name. He vowed if he ever owned a boat he would never deny anyone a similar opportunity. Over the course of his long boating career he never forgot that promise. I can't recall how many times Jim  and I would be on his boat talking when he
would see a dock walker looking up with wonder and envy. He would excuse himself, step to the rail and say, “Hey, do you like the boat? Would you like to come aboard?”

While Jim can't invite anyone to board his Gallant Ladys anymore, his impact will continue
long after the deep sorrow of his passing wanes. He made an extraordinary splash with his life. The courage, vision and generosity of his existence will continue to radiate far and wide across the sunnier, cleaner and healthier ocean he left in his wake.