James was born April 14, 1929 in Renton, WA. He graduated from Franklin High School in Seattle in 1946. He attended but did not graduate from the University of Washington, studying Electrical Engineering.
He worked for both McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing. Later, he owned his own businesses: Preventor Security (burglar alarm installation) and Skyway Services (avionics supply).
Jim died March 6, 1983, in the crash of his homebuilt GlasAir 2 seater airplane when he hit the main Bonneville power lines by 178th SE and Sawyer-Covington road on final approach to Crest Airpark in Kent, WA.
A memorial service was held at the new Museum of Flight, Boeing Field, with many of the leading figures in Seattle aviation attending. Eldest son Ken scattered his ashes over the North Cascades from John Sontag's Cessna, accompanied by Jim's son, Howard, and his father "Lang".
