James D. Finley Jr., known as Dan, died quietly June 16, 2026. He was 83.
Dan was born March 30, 1943, in Akron, Ohio. After his father returned from military service, the family eventually settled in Middletown. Dan attended Rumson Country Day School, the Loomis School in Windsor, Connecticut, and Trinity College in Hartford.
It is fitting to say that, besides his family and golf, Dan loved to work. It started with a job in his mid-teens when he would ride his bike from his home on Blossom Cove Road in Middletown to the Blaisdell Lumber Company in Red Bank. Other jobs followed, including a stint on a Norwegian freighter.
After college, he spent several years in the textile industry, most of them with J. P. Stevens & Co. in New York. Switching gears, he joined the investment business, also in New York, but eventually tired of the daily commute. He relocated to Red Bank, where he joined RBC Wealth Management as a vice president and financial advisor, a role he held until his retirement.
Dan was a former president of the Board of Trustees of Rumson Country Day School and of Rumson Country Club.
Always an avid golfer, he was a member of the United States Seniors Golf Association and of clubs in Vermont and New Jersey. The one tournament he remembered fondly was winning low net with his son in a father-son event on Long Island.
The family doesn’t recall seeing him on the sand or in the water at Seabright Beach Club, but they won’t ever forget how he loved his dogs and never tired of walking them, day or night, rain or shine.
Dan was predeceased by his parents, James (Jim) and Nancy Finley, and by his beloved daughter, Gretchen.
He is survived by his loving wife, Anne; his son, Jed (Brighid); his brothers, Fred and Bill (Becky); his nieces and nephew and several cousins.
A service will be privately held. Donations to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research would be appreciated.
The article originally appeared in the July 2 – 8, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
