James R. Compton, 84; Developer Ran Family’s Charitable Foundation

James R. Compton, 84, a philanthropist who worked on environmental protection issues through his family’s influential foundation, died March 18 in the Bay Area community of Tiburon after a long illness.

As president of the Compton Foundation from 1973 to 2002, he supported initiatives as diverse as the cleanup of California’s rivers and international human rights.

The foundation was started by his parents, Dorothy Danforth, daughter of the founder of Ralston Purina Co., and Randolph P. Compton, after the death of a son in World War II.

James Compton was born in Montclair, N.J., and earned his bachelor’s degree at Princeton. He joined the Marines after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and served as platoon leader during the battle of Iwo Jima. After World War II, he earned a master’s in business administration at the University of Chicago. From 1957 on, he was a real estate developer in the San Jose area.