Guilford (James “Jimmy” Jr.) is born in Roxbury.

The son of James and Nancy (Haskins) Guilford), Jimmy Guilford grows up at 28 Sterling Street, graduates from Boston Latin School, but is forced to give up his hopes to attend Harvard College in order to support his family by becoming a barber’s apprentice. He serves in the U.S. Army in the Pacific during World War II, returns to Boston, works for and then takes over Dunbar Barbers, which he renames Jimmy Guildford’s Hair Salon in 1945. The best-known barber in Boston’s black community, his clients that include visiting entertainment and sports celebrities. Guilford graduates from Northeastern University Law School, retires in 1980, and becomes an accomplished painter. He dies in Jamaica Plain on December 16, 2015, and is buried in the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne.