3030 N. McMullen Booth Rd.

Clearwater, FL 33761

(727) 726-8829

Bob James

Founder of Raymond James & Associates, Inc.

and the original

Vice Chairman of Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation

The founder of Raymond James & Associates, which grew into the diversified financial services company Raymond James Financial (NYSE-RJF), Robert A. James is often recognized as the founder of financial planning. In a time when simply selling stocks and bonds was the standard, Bob James recognized that people wanted more than transactions; they wanted assistance planning all aspects of their finances, from investments to taxes.

A 1941 graduate of Harvard University, James served as a Navy lieutenant in World War II.  In 1946, he established James Construction Co. in Lima, Ohio, and, later, Bay Colony Estates Corp., a company that built homes in St. Petersburg, Florida.

James got his start in the financial services industry in 1954 when he and Gerard Jobin began the Florida Mutual Fund, which later became the American National Growth Fund. As he worked to sell the fund, he recognized that his clients’ needs were changing and began offering financial planning seminars specifically aimed at retirees.

By 1960, these seminars led to a new company, James and Associates, essentially a mutual fund organization that specialized in retirement planning. Two years later, James bought and merged with Raymond and Associates of Sarasota, Florida, to create Raymond James & Associates, Inc.

Over the next two decades, James grew the company to include approximately 200 registered representatives and 26 offices and developed a parent company, Raymond James Financial, which had subsidiaries in discount brokerage, oil and gas partnerships, home building, and insurance agencies.

On May 20, 1983, James unexpectedly died at the age of 62. The company he founded, which continued under the leadership of his son, Thomas A. James, who had taken the reigns as CEO in 1970, has become an internationally recognized firm with offices in all 50 states, as well as across the globe.

At the time of his death, Robert James was a member of the Florida West Coast chapter of the Harvard Club, the Suncoasters and the Squires club. He was vice chairman of the Chi Chi Rodriquez Foundation to assist disadvantage youths, and was a member of the International Association of Financial Planners. On July 10, 1983, the Institute of Certified Financial Planners (ICFP) presented an award of Special Distinction to James posthumously.

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