Jonathan Standish Green ’60 died on July 13, 2020, in Marblehead, Massachusetts.     

(The following notice was shared by President Rose on July 18, 2020)

To faculty and staff,

I write with the sad news that Overseer of the College Emeritus Jonathan (“Jay”) Green of the Class of 1960 passed away in the early hours of July 13, 2020, in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Jay worked tirelessly for Bowdoin over the years—as class agent and Reunion chair for his class, capital campaign volunteer, vice president of the Bowdoin Club of New York, BASIC co-chair for New York City, Alumni Fund director, chair of the 1973–1974 Alumni Fund, and overseer of the College from 1975 to 1987. In 2011 he received the Polar Bear Award for his years of dedicated service to the College. Jay will be missed a great deal by all those fortunate enough to have known him and by so many others who have been the beneficiaries of his devotion to the College.

Jay was born in Boston on September 18, 1937, and was a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School in Boston. At Bowdoin he was an economics major, with a minor in government, and was a member of Delta Sigma Fraternity. An outstanding middle-distance runner, Jay was a member of the indoor and outdoor track and field teams and was captain of the 1960 indoor track team. He was the recipient of the Elmer Longley Hutchinson Memorial Cup for “high conduct both on and off the field of sport.” He was on the cross-country team in his first two years, served in the Reserve Officers Training Corps, wrote for the Orient in his junior and senior years, and was on the 1960 Bugle staff.

After his graduation, he served in the US Army from 1961 to 1963, attaining the rank of captain. He also undertook graduate study in business administration at the University of Arizona during his years of military service. He earned an MBA degree with honors at the University of California at Berkeley in 1964 and embarked on a long career in international finance and consulting, beginning as a trainee at Morgan Guaranty Trust in New York. For two years he was engaged in banking in Argentina, and then returned to Morgan Guaranty Trust as assistant treasurer. His familiarity with banking systems in Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil were invaluable, as Jay held subsequent positions as vice president or director at Bankers Trust Company, International Marine Banking Company, Ltd., and Marine Midland Bank. Beginning in the mid-1970s he concentrated his energies in financial management and consulting with a number of firms—in Santa Fe, Boston, and Chevy Chase.

Jay engaged with civic life in the communities in which he lived. While in South America, he was vice president of the U.S.-Argentine Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Center for Inter-American Relations; in New York he was treasurer and chair of the New England Society, and treasurer, member of the board of regents, and chair of the finance committee at the Long Island College Hospital. Jay brought a positive energy to any task he undertook and to his interactions with his colleagues, his neighbors, and the members of the Bowdoin community.

Jay is survived by Kathryn, his wife of thirty years, by his daughters, Hillary K. Green and Brittany S. Johnson, by his son, Todd Johnston ’02, and by his grandchildren. He was predeceased by his son, Jeffrey G. Green. We hold Kay and the family in our hearts and thoughts during this difficult time, and we treasure Jay’s legacy as an outstanding alumnus and dear friend of the College.

Sincerely,

Clayton