A Plum Life

by Jim Shanley

James “Jimmy” Shanley is a legend on the New Hampshire seacoast. Jim always has a joke or a story at the ready, often as not, with a life lesson woven in, a tradition that continues to this day. Born in 1928, Jim grew up in old Portsmouth, running with the neighborhood gang, playing high school football, marrying and having five children, receiving a law degree and then launching a real estate business that grew into an empire. Shanley Real Estate Corporation had twelve branches open at its height.

Over the years Jim took pride in providing jobs, helping families find or sell their homes and also in giving back to his community. Jim credits his financial success to his childhood family foundation, core values of honesty and hard work, and especially to the strong women who raised him. He hopes to pass on what he learned to the next generation through the publication of A Plum Life. His memoir was dictated over the summer of 2014, and includes over seventy pictures. Like Jim himself, A Plum Life will intrigue you, challenge you and stay with you.

About the Author

James A. “Jim” Shanley is a retired Realtor who owned James A. Shanley Corporation and operated twelve real estate offices throughout New Hampshire and Maine. He was born and raised in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and earned degrees from the Boston University School of Business Administration and the Boston University School of Law. He served in the U.S. Navy and survived metastatic melanoma cancer. He has traveled extensively over the world and continues to live “a plum life” with his wife, Marie, in New Castle, New Hampshire.

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