LeRoy: James H. Ransier 4/28/2012
Jim died Saturday, April 28, in the Dorn VA Medical Center in Columbia, SC, of complications related to Alzheimer’s disease. He was born in Batavia, NY, on November 4, 1929.
Jim was graduated in June 1948 from LeRoy High School, where he had lettered in track, football and basketball, and played the drums in a jazz band he had formed. In the summer of 1949, he joined the Army Reserves and enrolled in Canisius College in Buffalo, NY, but had to leave when he was called into the Army on October 17, 1950, to serve in Korea.
On March 2, 1951, Jim was captured by the North Koreans, shot in both feet, and forced to march for several days. After crawling back toward the American lines in the snow, he and a fellow prisoner, the only two survivors of his company, were rescued by American forces on March 13, 1951. Their picture appeared in Stars & Stripes shortly thereafter, and their story is featured in the book What Happened to American Prisoners of War in Korea by Sandy Strait (Royal Fireworks Press, 1997). For service to his country, Jim was awarded the Purple Heart.
After being discharged from the Army with the rank of corporal, Jim returned to classes at Canisius College and played the drums in a local jazz combo. He began his 30-year banking career in LeRoy, NY before moving to Batavia to work as a commercial loan officer for M&T Bank. In 1966, he was graduated from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University and was promoted to manager of M&T’s West Seneca branch.
In 1971, he accepted a position as Assistant Vice President at Port Charlotte Bank & Trust in Port Charlotte, FL, where he would eventually serve as Senior Vice President and Interim President before retiring from banking in 1981.
Jim lived the last 30 years of his life in South Carolina—first in a mountain home near Table Rock, then in Sun City - Hilton Head and, later, Columbia. Jim belonged to the West Seneca Chamber of Commerce, which named a street after him (Ransier Drive) in honor of his work on the Industrial Development Commission.
He was active in a number of charitable and service organizations over the course of his life, including the United Fund; the West Seneca Rotary Club; the Port Charlotte Rotary Club, where he served as president from 1973–74; the LeRoy Servicemen’s Club; the American Legion; the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Olive Branch Lodge No. 39 of the Masons; the Hejaz Temple; and the Port Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.
He was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in West Seneca, Port Charlotte United Methodist Church of Port Charlotte, FL, Grace United Methodist Church of Pickens, SC, and St. Luke’s United Methodist Church of Bluffton, SC.
Jim will be remembered most for his kindness, sincerity and sense of humor. He appreciated the beauty of nature, and enjoyed the outdoors wherever he lived, whether he was boating in Florida or chopping wood in South Carolina. An avid reader, he particularly enjoyed Civil War history. Jim was also a great music lover, especially Big Band jazz and Frank Sinatra, and was a talented whistler of his favorite tunes.
Jim was preceded in death by his parents, Ardys Otto Ransier and Glenn Lewis Ransier. He is survived by his wife Carolyn Farley Ransier of the home; son Robert Mitchell Ransier of Cincinnati, OH; daughter Sandra Ransier Smith of Reidsville, NC; brother Glenn Lewis Ransier, Jr. of Cambridge, MA; granddaughters Jessica Porras Keeshan of Tampa, FL and Sarah Renee Ransier of Cincinnati, OH; great granddaughters Abigail Keeshan and Aubrey Estes; and cousins Bruce Hoffmann of Clarence Center, NY and David Hoffmann of Pennyan, NY.
A Memorial Service will be held on Wednesday May 23, 2012 at 1PM at the LeRoy United Methodist Church. Interment will immediately follow at Machpelah Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Jim’s memory to the Alzheimer’s Association, P.O. Box 96011, Washington, DC 20090-6011 or St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Highway 170, Bluffton, SC 29910. To leave an online condolence, please visit www.LeRoyFuneralHome.com. Arrangements were completed by Cameron Brady & Steuber Funeral Home, LeRoy.
