Welcome to our CaringBridge site. We’ve created it to keep friends and family members up to speed on how Jim is doing. We appreciate your support and words of encouragement.
Jim was born in 1950, and grew up in Appleton, WI with his parents and six brothers and sisters. He's been married to his wife, Taffy, for 41 years, and has two daughters - Kate & Laura. Jim & Taffy lived in Lisle, IL for almost 34 years, before moving up to Maple Grove, MN in 2015 to be near Kate, Laura and Shane (Laura's husband).
Jim studied Nuclear Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, earning a Bachelor's and Master's from the College of Engineering. After spending three years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, he returned to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned a PhD in Decision Analysis from the Institute of Environmental Studies before starting a job at Argonne National Laboratory, where he had a long and esteemed career with 32 years of service. As the the founding Director of the Infrastructure Assurance Center (IAC), he devoted his life to working on critical programs designed to protect our Nation's infrastructure. Jim retired in 2013 after experiencing several health challenges that made the work and associated travel too difficult. Over the years at Argonne, Jim met many respected colleagues who still remain close friends in retirement.
In April 2014, Jim was diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). PSP is a rare, degenerative brain disease linked to an accumulation of Tau Protein in certain areas of the brain, including those that control balance, thought processes, eye movements, speech and the ability to swallow. Jim has been participating in a medical drug trial through the University of Minnesota since 2016, with hopes of finding a way to slow the progression of PSP. For more information on PSP, see the CurePSP website. (
https://www.psp.org/)
Your messages and well wishes mean a lot. Thank you for keeping him in your thoughts and prayers.
