James Bertram Riley Iii (Bert)

James Bertram Riley III

September 13, 1936 – October 31, 2022

James Bertram Riley III (Bert) passed away October 31, 2022 at Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca, New York after a brief illness. Born in Mishawaka, Indiana, oldest of five siblings, to Grace Nolan Riley and James Bertram Riley Jr., Bert lived in many places and lived a rich, full life.

Bert grew up in Indiana; Baltimore, Maryland; and Owensboro, Kentucky, where, at one point, he ran into trouble over the alleged theft of a bust of Minerva from the campus of a local college. He married his high school sweetheart Luann Joyce Nelson in 1955 in a secret ceremony while they played hooky from high school. Bert entered the Navy soon after and traveled the world aboard the U.S.S. Antietam, and told memorable stories about the ship's involvement in the Suez crisis and his time spent on potato-peeling detail. Following his service, he took advantage of his G.I. Bill education benefits and attended the University of Kentucky with his brother Tom, and graduated with a degree in business. He would later go on to earn his MBA from U.C. Berkeley.

Bert received training in electronics during his time in the Navy and leveraged those skills in a long career in electronics sales and information technology. His career encompassed years at IBM, Xerox, DiGiorgio Corp., PacBell, Kaiser Aluminum, and ICS Executone. After years of working in business, he always said he found the care-focused staff and welcoming and warm working environment at nonprofit Mary Cariola Center in Rochester, New York, to be a pleasant change from the stresses of the business world.

In 1971, he married his second wife, Pauline Mary O'Brien, at San Francisco's City Hall. After two and a half decades of adventures in California, they moved to Pittsford, New York in 1994. Bert moved to Ithaca in 2018 after Pauline's passing, living most recently at McGraw House.

Bert was a lifelong car and motorcycle enthusiast, and owned many fine (and not so fine) vehicles over the years, including a series of beloved Harley Davidsons. He enjoyed dirt bike riding with his son James, boating, and camping. He loved barbecue, and perfected the art of preparing baby back ribs on the grill.

He was charismatic, had a big personality and asserted his firm opinions freely. Bert was a force in the lives of his family members, and was the first to acknowledge, with humility, that he could sometimes be a difficult person to get along with.

Bert is predeceased by his wife, Pauline, by his brothers Thomas Riley and Patrick Riley, and by his sister, Kathleen Chester. He is survived by his brother Robert Slack Riley (Eleanor); his children, Leslie Riley Searcy (Nick), Stacy Ann Miller (Lee), Heather Lee Alvey, Merry Riley Buckley (Dan), Bridget Nolan Wedman (Stephen), and James Bertram Riley IV; and by 13 grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. He also leaves behind his loving companion, Natalie.

No prior calling hours.
He will be laid to rest in the O'Brien family plot at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Rochester, New York, alongside Pauline. There will be no service.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Mary Cariola Center, in Rochester. To leave the family a condolence or to sign the online guestbook click the above link "share memories".