James Rees (Photo courtesy of the George Washington Estate at Mount Vernon)

James C. Rees, IV, the nationally acclaimed president and CEO of the George Washington house and estate in Mount Vernon, Va., died Sept. 9 at his home in nearby Markham, Va. He was 62.

Kirk Blandford, his partner of 29 years whom he married last year, said the cause of death was multiple system atrophy, a neurological disorder, according to the Washington Post.

Information posted on the website of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, a non-profit organization that has owned and managed the George Washington estate since 1853, credits Rees with playing a key role in greatly expanding the estate’s mission to educate the public about the “unparalleled legacies” of the nation’s first president.

“Preserving the estate and promoting the enduring legacy of George Washington comprised the centerpiece of Jim’s life,” Barbara B. Lucas, regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, said in a statement posted on the website.

“The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association benefited beyond measure from his vision, energy and leadership,” she said.

The association says that during his term as president from 1994 to 2012, Rees “oversaw fundraising efforts totaling more than a quarter billion dollars for projects designed to bring George Washington back into the national spotlight.”

It was Rees’ vision that led to the development and opening of the “cutting-edge $60 million, 66,700-square-foot Ford Orientation and Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center buildings in 2006,” the association says in its web statement.

Rees has also been credited with leading efforts to restore and reconstruct George Washington’s Distillery & Gristmill as part of a four-acre exhibition farm site and “countless other important restorations on the 500-acre property,” the statement says.

The association’s write-up notes that before his retirement in June 2012, Rees secured $83 million out of $100 million needed to build and endow Mount Vernon’s newest addition — the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington. The library opened in September 2013.

Prior to becoming president of the estate Rees served as director of development and associate director beginning in 1983. The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association write-up says that during his 29-year tenure at Mount Vernon the staff nearly doubled and the Mount Vernon endowment grew from $4 million to more than $100 million.

Rees worked previously for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the College of William and Mary and served on the board of directors for the Fairfax County Convention and Visitors Corporation and the Piedmont Environmental Council of Virginia.

He received his undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree in public administration from George Washington University. Among the many honors and awards he received were the George Washington University President’s Medal for outstanding leadership and service and the Ann Pamela Cunningham Medal — the highest honor awarded by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.

Rees is survived by his husband and life partner Kirk Blandford; a brother, George and his wife Cindy of Atlanta; and two nieces, Cameron Rees of Virginia and Courtney Rees of Germany. He was predeceased by his parents, Conway and Kitty Rees of Richmond, Va.

Memorial contributions can be made in his honor to the Multiple System Atrophy Coalition at www.multipleystematropy.org; and the James C. Rees Memorial Fund, c/o Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, P.O. Box 110, Mount Vernon, Va., 22121, 703-799-8647.