James DeMott Gilmore

Feb 9, 1939 -

Jul 26, 2025

James DeMott Gilmore, age 86, died at home on Bainbridge Island, Wash., on July 26, 2025. Jim was kind and thoughtful, and very loved.

Born in Independence, Kan., on Feb. 9, 1939, Jim graduated from Independence High School in 1957, Princeton University in 1961, and served in the Navy on the USS Princeton from 1961-63. He earned his law degree at Stanford University and moved to Alaska as a young lawyer in 1966. He married his wife Katy in 1969, and the couple had two sons. He practiced law in Alaska for 40 years with notable distinction.

In 2005, Jim and Katy moved to Washington state, first to Port Townsend where Jim continued to take public defense appointments, self-published a book about trial practice and played coronet in the Port Townsend Summer Band. In 2018, when he fully retired, the Gilmores moved to Bainbridge Island where Jim took classes at the University of Washington's Classics Department, volunteered at the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum and played chess weekly.

Jim's interests ranged from classical Greek to kettlebells. He was committed to his law practice, and stories of Jim's exploits as a trial lawyer are legion. Guided by his ethics and noted professionalism, he was appointed to the Alaska Judicial Counsel, awarded the Alaska Bar Lifetime Professionalism Award, and invited to the exclusive American Academy of Trial Lawyers. Jim's charm, storytelling and warmth remain with everyone who knew him.

Jim was devoted to his family and is survived by his wife, Katy; sons, Chester and William; daughters-in-law, Mera Matthews and Chommada Gilmore; granddaughters, Opal and Olivia; and grandsons, August James and James Jira.

A memorial service will be held on Bainbridge Island on Sept. 13, 2025, and another later in Anchorage, Alaska.