R. James Macaleer, 81, of West Chester, PA passed away on October 29, 2015 surrounded by his family.
Born in 1934 in Elizabeth, NJ, he was the son of the late William and Edna (Green) Macaleer.
Mr. Macaleer graduated cum laude in 1955 with a BSE in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University. He served for 11 years as a fighter pilot in the US Navy (four active duty and seven active reserves). He has served as a Director for almost 20 organizations, including the Brandywine Valley Association (a local watershed organization), the Natural Lands Trust (a regional land trust), and the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, which he also chaired for 5½ years.
His family foundation contributes approximately half of its annual distributions to environmental organizations.
He retired in 1995 as the CEO and Co-Founder of Shared Medical Systems "SMS", and as non-executive Chairman in 2000. In that year SMS was the leading provider of financial, administrative and patient-care automated information processing systems and services to more than 5,000 healthcare institutions in the U.S. and sixteen foreign countries.
He has received the BSA Distinguished Eagle and Silver Beaver Awards, the "Entrepreneurial Excellence" Award from the Delaware Valley Venture Group, the "Distinguished Entrepreneur" Award from Muhlenberg College, the "Legend CEO" award from the Pennsylvania Eastern Technology Council, and an honorary degree from Drexel University.
He and his wife, Jean, have been active birders since 1993, and have birded in more than 30 countries in all seven continents.
He was the beloved husband of Lola Jean (Ledbetter) Macaleer; loving father of David K. Macaleer (Lynda) of Glenmoore, PA, Douglas S. Macaleer (Michelle) of Apex, NC and Cynthia D. Sansone (Steven) of Willistown, PA; loving grandfather of two grandchildren.