ROCKPORT —James Tuller Dill, 76, died peacefully at home April 29, 2021, with his family and cherished cat nearby. He was happy, he said, in the days preceding his eventual deep sleep.

Jim was born January 27, 1945, in Long Branch, New Jersey, on the eve of the country’s optimistic post-World II boom years. He was the essence of the front end of the Baby Boomers — curious, innovative, inventive, ready to explore and create a new world.

He appreciated his education, and stretched his intellect in many directions. He loved his first schools —Rumson Country Day and Cardigan Mountain School (He graduated from that New Hampshire school in 1961; his favorite memories included clearing ski trails in the woods, snowy winters, and being Senior Class President), and eventually attended Deerfield Academy, graduating from that school in 1966.

Jim then headed for Providence, Rhode Island, to the Rhode Island School of Design, where he would join like-minded creative individuals, sketching, building models, constructing, deconstructing, solving problems, and always in fluid application of what could be. Sometime in all those years, he and his brother ran a tree-trimming business in New Jersey, and Jim took classes at the RCA Institute in electronics. He also did line surveying in Washington, fiberglass fabrication and carried bricks in Colorado, and traveled to Mexico, where he had more adventures that stretched the envelope.

His significant creative work included his post-college days when he freelanced for the William H. Brine Company, makers of sports equipment. What he did for that company came back 20 years later when a lawsuit exploded between Brine and Warrior Lacrosse, Inc., over one of Jim’s designs that had revolutionized the lacrosse stick itself.

It was the “offset” that he coined and developed, and he ultimately confounded prosecuting attorneys who were arguing over his patents during a two-day deposition in 1996, in Worcester, Massachusetts. 

Jim’s unique ability to debate and argue his ideas under pressure protected his intellectual property, which he essentially gave to Brine for nominal dollars. While Brine prevailed over the lawsuit, Jim’s passion for a better LAX stick and appreciation of the game likewise endured, and he carried his ideas into the Midcoast, teaching his own children and many players in the Midcoast the joys of lacrosse.

After graduating from RISD in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in the fine arts, he settled in New York City to work at Carolina Enterprises (Empire Toys). He then relocated to Hartford to join the toy company Coleco, where he worked in advanced research and development, creating prototypes of toys and leading new concept developments.

In 1984, he adjusted his course and moved to Castine, where he dove into yacht design and earned an associate in applied science in small craft naval architecture, and a diploma in small craft naval architecture technology from the YDI Schools, then based in Blue Hill. Once again, he joined a community of individuals passionate about solving design problems and creating practical solutions.

When Hurricane Gloria descended on Penobscot Bay in 1985, Jim was on the Castine shore, eyeing a Navy ROTC training yacht as it broke away from her Maine Maritime Academy mooring. With winds gusting to 80 mph, the Santee headed for the rocks, where a crowd of people watched.

Jim, in his bright yellow foul weather gear, alone entered the water, climbed aboard the Santee, hoisted her sails, and took her to safer waters and a new mooring.

“Your quick thinking and action under extremely difficult conditions were a crucial contribution to the successful rescue of a Navy craft valued in excess of $95,000,” the Director of the Navy’s Dept. of Sailing wrote in a letter of appreciation for assistance.

In 1988, Jim moved to Camden with his wife, Lynda, to work for yacht designer Ernest Brierley, at Wayfarer Marine and in offices shared with Chuck Payne and Mark Fitzgerald, commencing more years of creative design work applied to all sizes of yachts and vessels.

Jim turned his attention to family, raising two boys with Lynda, and enjoyed coaching and teaching skiing at the Camden Snow Bowl, lacrosse on the local fields, sailing his dinghy in Rockport Harbor, and taking his dirt bike into the hills. He was an avid participant in the group of local model sailboat builders and racers, and during his last years, worked with his friend Tom Massey, resurrecting the latest model sailboat club that is currently racing at Camden Harbor.

Jim lived a full and creative life, spanning decades of change. He closed out his years cultivating his beloved three acres of land in Rockport, tending to its good soil. He loved the trees with their tall, straight lines and the green grass that was just coming in late April.

Jim was predeceased by his parents. He is survived by his wife, Lynda Clancy; his sons, Dominic and Lucas Dill; brother Colby Dill and his wife, Janet, of Shrewsbury, New Jersey; uncles Colby Dill, of Jefferson, and George Dill, of Houston, Texas; multiple cousins, and extended families and friends who hold Jim in their hearts.

Jim’s family is grateful for the compassionate and steady care of Maine Health Hospice, especially his kind nurses and aides, Karen, Dena, Beth, Julie, Kim, Georgia, Wanda, Jo and everyone who steadied him on his path toward new dimensions.

A celebration of Jim’s life will be held later this summer. Jim would want his friends and families to go forth and innovate, to not dwell on temporal concerns, and, especially, to go dancing.