James Cornelius Van Story Jr., 82, a financial planner who formerly owned and operated Van Story Co. in Chevy Chase, died
March 14, 2005 at the Capital Hospice in Arlington. He had a stroke a week before his death.
Mr. Van Story, a Washington resident, spent his early career with J.D. Marsh and Associates, the Gordon Abrams estate
planning firm and Provident Life and Accident Insurance Co. He began his own firm in the 1960s and retired in 2001.
He was born in Goldsboro, N.C., and raised in Washington, where he was a graduate of Western High School.
He was a history graduate of George Washington University, where he also received a master's degree in geography. He was
active in the Kappa Alpha social fraternity, founded a cheerleading group and later was president of the general alumni
association.
He was a Marine Corps veteran of World War II.
He was a former president of the Washington, D.C., Estate Planning Council. His memberships included the University Club
and St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Washington, where he was instrumental in the development and building of the
columbarium to house cremated remains.
He was a former board member of Washington National Cathedral. He was long active in school affairs and made an
unsuccessful bid for the D.C. school board in 1969.
His first wife, Mary Alicia Calvo Tisha Van Story, whom he married in 1950, died in 1979. A son from that marriage, James C. Van
Story III, died in 1993.
His marriage to Marilyn Seely Van Story ended in divorce.
Survivors include two children from his first marriage, Peter Van Story of Dublin and Sally Pratt of Annandale; and four
grandchildren.