Lawyer
Centurion, 1897–1899
Born 1 March 1835 in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Died 11 June 1899 in New York (Manhattan), New York
Buried Green-Wood Cemetery
, Brooklyn, New York
Proposed by Addison Brown and Almon Goodwin
Elected 5 June 1897 at age sixty-two
Century Memorial
James R. Cuming was a most intelligent and well-read lawyer, who showed in a marked degree the characteristics of the Scotch and Irish blood of which he was made up. He was a universal favorite in his profession, with a fortunate combination of the suaviter in modo with the fortiter in re, and had a happy facility in softening the asperities of any contest, however strenuous, in which he was engaged. He had a fine sense of humor and a most generous nature, and although he was, as a member of a leading firm, engaged in fierce and important litigations, he was always the courteous, fair and high-minded advocate, whom it was a pleasure to meet, and who eliminated, as far as he was concerned, everything of bitterness or rancor out of any controversy. He was connected with many public institutions, gave unostentatiously to charities, and left a gentle and tender memory when he died.
Henry E. Howland
1900 Century Association Yearbook