EIGHT BELLS: Richard Neilan Jayson

Richard Neilan Jayson (Dick) of Fort Lauderdale Florida passed away peacefully on Monday, April 22nd, 2013 at the age of 90. He was born on July 11, 1922 in New York City. He attended Columbia High School in South Orange, NJ and he graduated from Harvard University with a BS in 1943.

He served as a captain in the Marine Corps during WWII. In 1949 he founded Color Film Corporation, a slide and filmstrip duplication laboratory that eventually had among its customers most of the major New York and Chicago publishing houses that produced educational audio-visual films for schools. The company later went on to duplicate videocassettes and digital media for many Fortune 500 Corporations and US Government Agencies.

Dick was an avid skier, boater, and very accomplished ocean racing sailor. He won his division in the Newport Bermuda Race in 1976, the Racing Division in the Swan World Cup in Sardinia in 1981, and was a three time division winner of the Ft. Lauderdale-Key West Race among many other victories.

With his racing sailboat PRIDE, he was a founder of the Nioulargue Regatta in Saint Tropez in 1981, a regatta that quickly became one of the most glamorous and prestigious sailing events in the world and combines modern race boats and wooden classics that fill the port of Saint Tropez in the fall of each year since then.

In his later years, he and his motor vessel PRIDE II were a fixture on many sailing regatta starting lines helping out as Race Committee Boat or Support Boat.

He was a member of New York Yacht Club, Storm Trysail Club, Cruising Club of America, Lauderdale YC, , and Riverside Yacht Club. And he was a former Commodore of Rocky Point Club, Byram Shore Boat Club, and The Corinthians.

He was predeceased by his wife of 35 years, Celia P Jayson. Previously he was married to Roberta Clarke of Darien, CT. He is survived by his daughter, Patricia A. Jayson of Fairhaven, MA, a son, William S. Jayson and his wife Anne of Rowayton, CT and their children Gillian, Laura and William Jayson Jr. and great grand daughter Harper Jayson, and daughter Sally J. McGowan of Rowayton, CT and her children Patrick, Logan and Delaney McGowan. In addition, he is also survived by stepdaughter Shelley Clark and her husband John of Hickory, NC and their children, Charles and Celia Clark, and stepdaughters Leslie Tompkins of Reston, VA and Sloane Tompkins of Old Greenwich, CT. The family plans a reception to remember his life at a later date.