Attorney, Tyson exec, philanthropist Jim Blair has died

Jim Blair, a Fayetteville philanthropist and longtime attorney and Tyson Foods executive, died Wednesday (Dec. 3). He was 90 years old.

Blair was a prominent attorney in the state for years and was appointed general counsel for Tyson Foods in 1980. He served in this position until he retired in 2000.

“We are saddened by the passing of Jim Blair, but grateful for the many years of wonderful friendship between our two families,” noted a statement from the Tyson family. “Jim was a valued and important member of Tyson Foods for several decades, serving as the company’s General Counsel for 20 years. He made an indelible impact on Northwest Arkansas and across the state. We, along with so many others, are fortunate to have experienced his generous spirit and love of life. We send our thoughts and prayers to his family, and all those who knew and loved him.”

According to a Butterfield Trail Village article, he was born in 1935 in Elkins and grew up in Fayetteville. He was raised by his grandparents, Rufus and Bessie Motley Blair, who ran a grocery store from their home on South School Avenue.

Blair graduated from Fayetteville High School in 1953 with honors and about two years of college credit. He earned a bachelor’s degree at 19 and a law degree two years later, both from the University of Arkansas.

His first attorney’s job was with the late Courtney Crouch, whose clients included Jones Truck Lines and Tyson Foods. The pair took Tyson Foods public and handled several of its early acquisitions. At 23, Jim Blair won a case before the Arkansas Supreme Court that changed the state’s libel law.

In 1980, Gov. Bill Clinton appointed Jim Blair as a National Democratic Committeeman. He later served as private legal counsel to President Clinton while in the White House. Jim Blair and his late wife, Diane, were close friends to Bill and Hillary Clinton. Diane Blair died in 2000.

After her death, Jim Blair devoted the next five years to philanthropy, including gifts to the Fayetteville Public Library and the UA.

Blair’s lead gift of $3 million helped establish the 88,000-square-foot Blair Library, which opened in 2004 following a $23.3 million project. The library at 401 W. Mountain St. is named in honor of his late wife, Diane Divers Blair; his grandmother, Bessie Motley Blair; and his aunt, Dr. Mary Grace Blair.

He worked to establish the Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics & Society at the UA in honor of his late wife. He also gave $1.5 million to endow two assistant professorships at the Blair Center — one in Southern studies and one in Latino politics — which operate in perpetuity.

He received multiple awards for his philanthropy and volunteer work, including the UA Chancellor’s Medal and Outstanding Northwest Arkansas Philanthropist. He served on the Arkansas State Board of Higher Education and the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees, both of which he chaired.

Blair married Nancy Beth Horton in 2005, and the couple has given more than $15 million to area organizations, according to the Butterfield Trail Village article. They moved to Fayetteville retirement community Butterfield Trail Village in August 2020.

In 2019, the Blairs gave $2 million to the library’s $23 million capital campaign, Beyond Words. The money was used for a nearly $50 million expansion project that added more than 82,500 square feet to the building. The expanded 190,000-square-foot Blair Library opened in January 2021.

The couple’s other charitable gifts included $1.8 million to nonprofit Life Styles Inc.; $2 million to the Museum of Native American History in the form of a Pre-Columbian art collection; $100,000 to TheatreSquared for an assistive hearing sound system; and $100,000 to Washington Regional Medical Center for its hospice program and building expansion.

The couple also administers the James Burton Blair Family Foundation, which gives $100,000 annually to support organizations such as the Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Northwest Arkansas, KUAF 91.3 FM, the Washington Regional Medical Foundation, and the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas.

Jim Blair was 84 when he placed his law license on retired status in December 2019. He announced his retirement in a half-page ad in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with “I Quit” as the headline:

“On Dec. 1, 2019, I will have practiced law 62 years, 7 months and 13 days. Enough practice, I’ve finally got it right. I can’t get any better. It’s time to quit, so effective Dec. 1, 2019, I am placing my law licenses on retired status.

“It’s been fun, it’s been absolutely wonderful, and I think I did more good than harm.”