James Anthony Rathbun of Oak Bluffs died peacefully at home on June 4, 2016. He was 56.

James grew up in Scituate, and graduated from Scituate High School, class of 1978. He attended New England College in Henniker, N.H., in 1979 to 1980 and later in life took many classes at UMass Amherst. He was the son of the late Paul and Ruth Rathbun of Scituate.

An eternal student, James loved philosophy and psychology. He had a deep interest in the work of Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, and Robert Bly. He was a Shakespeare enthusiast. He also studied earth sciences and was interested in environmental issues.

James was an adventurer at heart and enjoyed meeting people of different cultures. He spent time in the Caribbean, remote areas of the Orinoco River delta in Venezuela, and last winter stayed in the village of Taganga on the Atlantic coast of Columbia with friends from Martha’s Vineyard.

James was a saltwater fisherman through and through. He was digging clams in the marshes of Scituate by the time he was 10 years old, and fixing up wooden boats by age 12. He lobstered out of Cohasset Harbor for several years and participated in almost all of the commercial fisheries in and around Martha’s Vineyard in the 1980s and 90s. He was aboard a New Bedford dragger that survived the “perfect storm” in October 1991. He lived aboard his own 32-foot wooden lobster boat in Vineyard Haven Harbor for a number of years.

James was a passionate wooden boat enthusiast. He always had some sort of wooden boat restoration project going on. He spent a lot of time at the Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway boatyard, learning the craft of wooden-boat building.

He loved ice skating. Anytime the ponds froze in winter, James was skating and playing pond hockey. He volunteered at the Martha’s Vineyard Boys and Girls Club, teaching kids to skate.

James was a renaissance man who made friends wherever he went. He was a good storyteller with a wonderful sense of humor. He counted among his friends celebrities, writers, and artists, as well as the most humble of homeless people. All were treated with the same respect. He leaves behind many close friends on Martha’s Vineyard, the Amherst and Northampton area, and Scituate and Cohasset.

He leaves one brother, Paul Rathbun, of Lakeville, and two sisters, Janet Bogart of Saco, Maine, and Cynthia Paglierani of Osterville. He was predeceased by a sister, Mary Webb of Falmouth, and a brother, Mark Rathbun, also of Falmouth.

There will be an informal memorial get-together for friends and family at 34 Massasoit Ave., Oak Bluffs, on Monday, August 15, from 4:20pm to 7 pm.

In lieu of flowers, send donations to the Martha’s Vineyard Boys and Girls Club, P.O. Box 654, Edgartown, MA 02539.