James Roger Kennedy, Jr.

Captain, U.S. Navy

James Roger Kennedy, Jr. was born in 1926 in Fairmont, WV. He was one of five children born to James & Marie Kennedy. His formative years were spent in Springfield, OH, where he graduated as Senior Class President from Springfield High in 1944.

He enlisted in the U.S. Navy as WWII was nearing an end and later secured an appointment to attend the U. S. Naval Academy as a member of the class of 1950. After graduation and an initial sea tour aboard a destroyer, he joined the Submarine Service in 1952. Through a series of sea and shore assignments, in 1962 he rose to command the USS Amberjack (SS-522) based out of Charleston, SC. In that role, his duties overlapped with history as he was responsible for conducting the at-sea memorial services for fallen submarine brethren of the lost USS Thresher; duties for which he received the key to the city from Wilmington, NC.

Subsequently, Capt. Kennedy assumed duties as Commander of Submarine Division 13 based out of Pearl Harbor, HI, with his final assignment as Foreign Liaison and Protocol Officer at the Pentagon. In that role he was responsible for all Foreign Naval Attaches in the Washington, DC, area, an assignment which allowed him to cultivate many lasting international friendships.

Exhibiting the finest qualities of a true "officer and a gentleman," Capt. Kennedy was deeply devoted to his family and his country. In the words of his classmates, memorialized in his yearbook at the Naval Academy, "His greatest excellence was in being a good friend to all who knew him." So true.

Captain James R. Kennedy Jr., devoted husband, father and grandfather, passed away peacefully on 6 August 2010, after a valiant seventeen-year battle against the physical limitations imposed on him by a stroke he suffered in 1993. He was 83.

Kennedy was preceded in death by his loving wife, Jeanne, who passed away on 5 June 2010.

Captain Kennedy is survived by his daughter Robyn, son Jim, daughter-in-law Jackie, and grandsons Mark and Alex.

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