James McManus, builder, town officer

James J. McManus, a builder, lifelong Ridgefielder, and the town’s building inspector for 20 years, died on Sunday, Dec. 3, at Danbury Hospital. He was 83, the husband of Patricia (Potter) McManus, the father of six children, and had lived for decades on Fairview Avenue.
“He was quite a guy. He was the most honorable person I’ve met,” said Sheenah Mische of Ridgefield, one of his daughters. “He had a great life, and he loved his family and I guess that’s the best you can say about anybody.”
She added, “He lived here his whole life. He was a Ridgefielder through and through.”
Mr. McManus was born in Ridgefield, March 27, 1917, a son of the late Peter A. and Mary E. (Connelly) McManus. He attended Ridgefield schools, St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, and graduated from the former Ridgefield Boys School.
He was a builder by trade, first being associated with his family in Peter A. McManus & Sons Building Contractors. In later years he owned and operated the James J. McManus Building Contractor Company of Ridgefield.
“He was a builder all of his life,” Ms. Mische said. “He built so many of the houses and structures in Ridgefield. He put the cross on top of St. Mary’s when they renovated it back in the 1930’s.”
Other notable projects that Mr. McManus was involved in building include Veterans Park School, the Yanity Gymnasium at the old high school, the conversion of a former mansion on Tackora Trail into the Jesuits’ Manresa Retreat House (today the building is the traditionalist Catholic St. Ignatius Retreat House), and the Girl Scout Facility of Ridgefield on West Mountain.
Mr. McManus started working as the town’s assistant building official in 1960, and in 1970 he became the building inspector for the Town of Ridgefield, a position he held until his retirement in 1990.
Mr. McManus was widely respected for his expertise in the building trades and developed many friends and followers by his ability to help homeowners and builders achieve what the State of Connecticut Building Code required.
Over the years, Mr. McManus received certificates of achievement in the building and inspection areas from various professional and educational organizations, the New England Association of Fire Marshals, the Building Officials Code Administrators International, the University of Connecticut Institute of Public Service, the State of Connecticut Continuing Education Program, the Connecticut Building Officials Association and the National Academy of Code Administrators.
A World War II U.S. Navy veteran, Mr. McManus served with the Seabees.
He served the Town of Ridgefield as a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals and Board of Tax Review. He was a member of the Marquette Council Knights of Columbus of Ridgefield as well as St. Mary’s Church.
He enjoyed golf, playing at various courses in the area, and had been an accomplished baseball player in his youth, playing for the Ridgefield Boys School.
“That was another love of his, when he was young, baseball,” said Eileen Dempsy, another daughter. “When we were growing up on Fairview Avenue he used to organize neighborhood baseball games. He’d organize games between Fairview Avenue and Greenfield Street. We had some good times.”
She said he was a “quiet, reserved, unassuming man” — which she said reflected his upbringing by a mother and father who had immigrated from Scotland.
“He loved his family and he did things with his family. He liked to putter around,” she said. He used his skills to build things for his family, including an in-ground pool at the house on Fairview Avenue.
“Over the years he made rocking horses for children and then grandchildren. He made doll houses, doll furniture, bookends,” Ms. Dempsey said.
In addition to his spouse of 59 years, he is survived by four daughters and their husbands, Michele and John Masi of Danbury, Eileen and Edward Dempsey of Avon, Maureen and Richard Gawlik of Andover, Mass., and Sheenah and Philip Mische of Ridgefield; two sons and their wives, Peter and Angela McManus of Danbury, and Mark and Elizabeth McManus of Ridgefield; a sister, Monica Ustie of Danbury; and a brother, Frederick McManus of Whitestone, Va.; as well as 20 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
A sister, Jeanette Jones, and two bothers, Richard McManus and Joseph McManus, died before he did.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, Dec. 8, at 10:30 a.m. in St. Mary’s Church, Ridgefield. Burial will follow in St. Mary’s Cemetery with military honors.
Friends will be received in the Kane Funeral Home, 41 Catoonah Street, on Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m.
Contributions in Mr. McManus’s memory may be made to the Visiting Nurse Association of Ridgefield, 90 East Ridge, or to the Ridgefield Fire Department Ambulance Fund, 6 Catoonah Street.