Jim was born in Philadelphia and lived in Pennsylvania and New Jersey until 1948 when his family moved to Southern California. He graduated from Pennsylvania Military Preparatory School in 1954. He and his wife Carol were married in Anaheim in 1956 and have three adult sons, five grandchildren and a great grandson.
He graduated with a major in Business Administration and a minor in Economics from Long Beach State College in 1963. On graduation he was employed by United California Bank and in 1966 was transferred by UCB to San Francisco where he received his credit training before his first branch assignment in Chico. Subsequently he served as a Vice President at the Oakland Main Office and then as a Vice President in the Sacramento Regional office as the Budget Planning and Control Officer for the region’s twenty-six branch offices.
Jim left banking and indulged his love of airplanes for five years as General Manager of Chico Aviation, Inc., a fixed base operator. When Chico Aviation was sold, he returned to banking as Manager of the Tri Counties Bank Orland office from where he was transferred to Redding as Manager of its Redding office.
In 1986 he was employed by North Valley Bank as its Executive Vice President and during his tenure as EVP, he graduated from the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington. Jim retired in 1998 from North Valley Bank as President, CEO and a director and from North Valley Bancorp as a director. Past activities included membership in The Exchange Club of Redding, Redding East Rotary Club, a director of Northern Valley Catholic Social Service, Inc. and a member of the 2017-2018 Shasta County Grand Jury.