Tom James has always liked collecting stuff. Early on, it was coins and stamps. Later on, it was satisfied clients.
And then there is his art, the investment where the bottom line is much more passion and patronage than pure profit. Starting innocently enough when he was a magna cum laude undergraduate at Harvard, he began buying local New England art. He kept at it through his Harvard MBA days.
“I wanted memories of things I identified with,” recalls James, the long-time chairman and CEO of Raymond James Financial Inc. Nearly a half-century and lots of travels and memories later, James has accumulated one of the largest private art collections in Florida. The Tom and Mary James/Raymond James Financial Art Collection now totals more than 1,800 pieces – from original paintings to bronze sculptures to graphics. The Jameses own 90 per cent of it. From Andy Warhol and Peter Max to Joan Miro and Salvador Dali to Jamie Wyeth. From local wildlife to Western and Southwestern artists. The latter now comprise more than half the collection.
He buys only living artists.
And they’re on display – integrated by style and theme – on all 28 floors of the four towers of RJF headquarters in St. Petersburg across from Feather Sound.
“I enjoy helping young artists with talent,” explains James. “Helping them showcase their talent. Helping them make some money.”
One such artist is the award-winning Ernest C. Simmons of Dunedin. His wildlife work is well represented at RJF – and is prominently exhibited in the annual “Wildlife and Western Life Vision Art Show” at RJF. “Tom has an educated eye for art, and he likes a good deal,” says Simmons. “He’s definitely a Republican, but with the heart of a Democrat. He’s a really cool guy and a great patron.”
But James does a lot more than buy art, support artists and host the Wildlife and Western show. He’s the catalyst behind RJF’s sponsorship of the annual Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts in downtown Tampa and is working on plans to establish a museum in downtown St. Petersburg to display his Western and wildlife art. RJF, in conjunction with St. Petersburg College, is building the new home of the American Stage Theatre Company in St. Petersburg – the “Raymond James Theatre.” Moreover, RJF is a corporate sponsor of the Salvador Dali Museum and The Florida International Museum.
James is also president of the Dali Board of directors and a key behind-the-scenes player in the complex scenario that is the new museum plan.
“Tom is really engaged with the museum