Dr. James Royal Malm passed away peacefully at Community Hospice & Palliative Care’s Warner Center for Caring in Fernandina Beach, Fla. on September 21, 2019 at the age of 94.
Dr. Malm was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Evanston, Ill., where he met his wife of 69 years, Constance Brooks, in second grade. He enlisted in the Navy at 17 years of age and entered the pre-med V12 program. He was a graduate of Princeton University and Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. He remained at New York’s Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, where, as the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, he transformed the program of both adult and pediatric cardiac surgery into one of the foremost treatment and training programs in the world. His legacy of the thousands of children’s lives he touched through his illustrious career lives on in the Babies Heart Fund at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.
In 1991, Jim and his wife, Connie, retired to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., where they had honeymooned in 1950 and returned for many happy summers with their family. In retirement, he pursued his hobbies of trap and skeet shooting, decoy carving, tennis, and saltwater fly fishing from his boat, The Tetrad, with the same energy and enthusiasm he brought to his professional career and family life.
In 2003, the Malms made Amelia Island their home, where they continued to enjoy life by the Atlantic Ocean. Here, he took up golf at the age of 80. He continued to enjoy playing twice weekly and finally made the goal of shooting his age.
His wit, wisdom and great love of life will be missed by many, but so deeply by his family.
He is survived by his beloved wife, Constance (Connie) Brooks Malm; his four daughters, Betsy M. Holdsworth (Sam Holdsworth), Melissa Malm (Greg Smith), Karen Malm, and Sarah Malm; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
We will celebrate his life at a memorial service at 1 p.m. Saturday, September 28, 2019 at Amelia Plantation Chapel, followed by a reception at the Long Point Golf Club.
In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be made to The Babies Heart Fund, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, c/o Sarah Hansen, 516 W. 168th St., Third Floor, New York, NY 10032.
Please share your memories and condolences at www.oxleyheard.com.
Oxley-Heard Funeral Directors