James Robert Adams

Whether you know him as James, Jim, Jimmy, or Hames, you’ve met one of the best people on Earth.  He grew up in Bassett, Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  As a little kid, he had to battle with kidney defects, spending months at a time in the hospital.  Knowing this history, you can appreciate how tough and tender he is.  By the age of three, he was playing the piano and swimming.  In high school, he played saxophone in the marching band and was a band captain.  He sang in his high school’s choral ensemble, the Bengal Singers, and later was a member of UVa’s University Singers.  James spent his summers on the lake at Fairy Stone State Park as a lifeguard and swimming teacher.  At the time, he was also the youngest person in the country to be authorized as a lifeguarding instructor.  (He likes to challenge rules—he completed all coursework and physical training beforehand and was granted his instructor’s license a few hours after he turned the minimum age of 17.)  James is the first in his family to attend college, but this factoid is insignificant compared to his other accomplishments and his character.  He excelled at the University of Virginia, where he majored with honors in English Language and Literature and was a few credits short of a double major in biology.  After college, he worked in pediatric hematology-oncology and then development for Cornell Weill, public relations, and even a post-UVa job where he was an event planner (and Jonathan’s boss).  For over a decade, he managed a project for the Federal Judiciary where he analyzed employee diversity for each court unit compared to national and regional census data.  The annual reports he prepared for Congress made tangible recommendations as to how to promote representative government.  His grades in medical school were nearly perfect, but he made the tough decision that it was not a good fit.  Instead, he attended Columbia University, where he obtained a master’s in educational development with an emphasis on organizational psychology.  In his leadership development work, he has been published on six continents, with Antarctica being the only exception.  In short, and as we all know, his intellectual and emotional depth cannot be qualified.  Around him, you are never bored and always warmed by his love. 
(written by Jonathan)