James S. Gracey Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth and Family

Gracey died on April 5, 2020, in Falls Church, Virginia, at the age of 92.

Following graduation in June 1949, he agreed to remain at the Academy until the following September as a tactical instructor. From 1951 to 1953, he was stationed at the Captain of the Port Office in Boston, Massachusetts. Between March and May 1953 he attended the LORAN Indoctrination School at Coast Guard Training Station, Groton, Connecticut. After completing the course he commanded the LORAN station, Ocean Cape, Yakutat, Alaska, for one year. He then returned to the Academy for a brief assignment as assistant tactics officer and baseball coach from June to September 1954. He entered the Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard University in 1954, receiving a master of business administration in June 1956. As part of his work at Harvard, he spent the summer of 1955 in industry training at Norton Company in Worcester, Massachusetts. From July 1956 to July 1960, he served at Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, DC, as a branch chief in the supply division. During the following two years he commanded the buoy tender USCGC Mariposa out of New London, Connecticut. The ship serviced aids to navigation along the seacoast of Connecticut and Long Island and broke ice on the Hudson River From September 1962 to April 1965, he served as Comptroller, of the St. Louis-based Second Coast Guard District with collateral duties that included cadet procurement in Kansas and Missouri. He then transferred to the Third Coast Guard District staff in New York to serve as assistant Project Officer for the conversion of Fort Jay, Governors Island from an Army post to a Coast Guard facility. His duties included developing the organization for the host command and planning all the island’s “humanities.” For that duty he was awarded the Secretary of Treasury Commendation for Achievement Ribbon. From March 1966 to June 1969, he was executive officer of the Coast Guard Base at Governors Island for which he received a Coast Guard Letter of Commendation. His special duties during that period included community relations with the large island population and labor relations, including negotiating contracts with several different unions.

James Steele Gracey (August 24, 1927 – April 5, 2020) was an admiral of the United States Coast Guard who served as the 17th commandant from 1982 to 1986.