James Blair Sherwood (August 8, 1933 – May 18, 2020) was an American-born, British-based businessman, and the founder of

Sea Containers Sea Containers was a Bermudan registered company which operated two main business areas: transport and container leasing. It filed for bankruptcy on 16 October 2006. In 2009 its maritime container interests were transferred to a new company SeaCo ...

Early life

James Blair Sherwood was born in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, the son of William Sherwood, a patent attorney, and Florence. He grew up in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

and earned a degree in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. Sherwood learned about shipping first in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, spending three years as a cargo officer, and then working for

United States Lines United States Lines was the trade name of an organization of the United States Shipping Board (USSB), Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) created to operate German liners seized by the United States in 1917. The ships were owned by the USSB and all ...

and CTI for six years.

Business career

In 1965, Sherwood founded

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

-based,

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

listed,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-headquartered shipping company

with initial capital of $100,000. Over forty years Sherwood expanded Sea Containers from a supplier of leased cargo containers, into various shipping companies, as well as expanding the company into luxury hotels and railway trains, including the

Venice-Simplon Orient Express The ''Venice Simplon-Orient-Express'' (VSOE) is a private luxury train service from London to Venice and other European cities. It is currently owned by Belmond, which operates 45 luxury hotels, restaurants, tourist trains and river cruises in ...

and

Great North Eastern Railway Great North Eastern Railway, often referred to as GNER, was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, owned by Sea Containers, that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, North ...

that operated the

InterCity East Coast InterCity East Coast is a railway franchise for passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom from London King's Cross to Hull, Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen. It was fo ...

franchise. Although valued with a net worth of £60million in the 2004

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday news ...

, as Sea Containers hit financial troubles, he resigned as Co-Chief Executive Officer from each of his companies in 2006. He continued as a Director of Orient Express Hotels Ltd until retiring on 9 June 2011. He was later designated as Founder and Chairman Emeritus.

Personal life

In 1977, Sherwood married the writer and botanist Shirley Cross. Her sons, Simon and Charles, from her previous marriage adopted his surname. He died on May 18, 2020 of complications after abdominal surgery, aged 86.

References

External links

Portrait Sculpture of James Sherwood
by John W Mills {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherwood, James Blair 1933 births 2020 deaths Military personnel from Lexington, Kentucky Yale University alumni United States Navy officers American chief executives of travel and tourism industry companies American expatriates in the United Kingdom