Jim Whitelaw
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, October 11, 1996Born: c. 1921
Died: July 3, 2021
Married: Ramona Rodriguez
Children: Frank Whitelaw
James F. Whitelaw, of Bloomingdale, worked at the Saranac Laboratory starting in 1949, where he worked with Arthur J. Vorwald. In 1954, he facilitated the closing of the Saranac Laboratory and the transferring of operations to the new Trudeau Institute where he worked until his retirement in 1996. He was also the caretaker for Dorothea Harris from 1959 to 1998 at camp Point o'View on Lower Saranac Lake, and a sportsman and rugby player.
In 2013, Mr. Whitelaw provided Historic Saranac Lake some old letter file boxes from the old lab and a hand drawn map of the animal facilities at the Saranac Laboratory (posted on that page).
In a phone interview in 2013 with Amy Catania of Historic Saranac Lake, Mr. Whitelaw described that there was a special area for rabbits, and a workshop was behind that. There was a series of rooms with equipment to make dust. Attached to that area were garages owned by Mrs. Trudeau that went right up to the property line by the Hotel Saranac. They kept monkeys in a large cage. Mainly they kept guinea pigs, rats and mice. There were human lungs and other organs of the body stored in the basement that had had TB infection. He said, "We chucked most of the lungs at the landfill, when we were cleaning house in '64. We picked out some to keep."
There were also rock samples stored in the lab from mines from many places. They were all thrown away when the lab moved. Ed Urban was the engineer at the old lab. He had an office in the downstairs front area where the kitchen is now. He had a whole cabinet full of mine rocks. Jim used to go to the mines with Ed Urban and take air samples and x-rays of the workers. He remembers doing this in Mineville. He recalls that once an atomizer full of TB accidentally blew up in his face and made him sick. He also got sarcoidosis, possibly from exposure to Berillium dust at the lab. He said, "some of the people we worked with died, but they were not diagnosed. They died slowly and we wondered if it was about exposure. Sometimes we wore a respirator and sometimes we didn't."
Jim Whitelaw
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, July 6, 2021
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, July 6, 2021
James (Jim) F. Whitelaw
James (Jim) F. Whitelaw, 92, of Bloomingdale, NY, died Saturday, July 3, 2021, at Mercy Living Center in Tupper Lake, after a long illness.
Jim was born in New York City to Mark and Stella (DeForge) Whitelaw. The family moved to Saranac Lake, where Jim grew up and graduated from Saranac Lake High School. He joined the United States Army and served in Japan during the Korean conflict. Jim retired as superintendent of buildings and grounds from Trudeau Institute, after 42 years in 1991. He was also the caretaker for the C.C. Harris Camp on Lower Saranac Lake.
Jim was a fishing legend and was featured in outdoor articles by Dennis Aprill, who also put Jim in one of his books. Jim was an extremely skilled carpenter, capable of building or fixing nearly anything. He oversaw the construction of the current Trudeau Institute in the ’60’s and he built his first family home on Elm Street.
In 1958, Jim married Ramonita Rodriguez of Long Island, after meeting her at Ray Brook Hospital, where she was being treated for Tuberculosis. They had one son, Francis (Tiger), of Bloomingdale.
Jim is survived by his wife of 63 years, Ramonita (Mona) and his son, Francis Whitelaw and his wife Donna. He has one living sibling and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents, Stella and Mark, his sisters, Lucille DeForge and Jeanette LaPierre, and his brothers, Raymond Whitelaw of Saranac Lake and Richard Whitelaw of Parish, NY.
Arrangements are in the care of M.B. Clark Funeral Home in Lake Placid. At Jim’s request, there will be no calling hours or services. Memorial contributions may be made to the Saranac Lake Volunteer Rescue Squad.
Relatives and friends are invited to share a memory, upload a photograph or leave condolences for the Whitelaw family at www.mbclarkfuneralhome.com.
Jack Drury wrote an appreciation of Jim Whitelaw as "Silent Partner," published in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise on March 28, 2023.
