Born in Pittsburgh, Jim prepped at Mercersburg Academy. Following his freshman year at Princeton, he was drafted into the Army Air Force. His role as a weather observer took him to a remote part of Alaska. He returned to Princeton, graduating in 1950 with a degree in psychology.
Jim worked for the General Electric Co. as a personnel manager/human resource manager for 37 years — first in Schenectady and later in Utica. This role allowed him to use his innate talent for relating to people of many different backgrounds.
Jim married Anne (known as Happy) in 1953. The couple — married for 69 years before Happy died — were great international travelers, visiting six of the seven continents and sailing the Caribbean frequently. Upon Jim’s retirement from General Electric in 1987, he and Happy moved to Maine to be closer to their three children and their grandchildren.
Civic duty meant a great deal to Jim. He sat on the Oneida County Board of Cooperative Education for 25 years and served on the Herkimer County Community College board and on the president’s advisory committee of Southern Maine Community College. In speaking of his commitment to public education, Jim said it is “where we can make the biggest difference in people’s lives.”
He is survived by children Elizabeth, James III, and Anne; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. The Class of 1948 sends its sympathies on the passing of a man remembered fondly as a “character” with “a kind and genuine heart.”