A brilliant scientist  who recruited top researchers to our university and inspired students to excel in clinical and medical research  - that is one way I think of Jim.   But the other is my work relationship with him.  He chose me to be the Administrator of his Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology.   I was so honored to assume this position because I had worked my way up through the ranks and spent many nights and weekends obtaining my degree to do it.  He valued my persistence and chose me out of a large field of applicants.  For that, I am forever grateful and I told him so when I retired.

I've been thinking about him and some of the experiences we shared at UTMB.  At this time of year as we always do, there are reports of increased hurricane threats for the season.  Jim was from California and lived in Arizona and did not care for this untimely distraction.  I believe it was Hurricane Rita when the university closed down and everyone was told to evacuate.  Jim went to Dallas and I eventually made it to Austin.  While I was there, he called me to discuss the situation and admitted that it upset him so much that he went out and purchased a life preserver (even though he was hundreds of miles away from the storm)!  I chuckled and when we all returned to work, he told me that it was not going to be "business as usual"  since we could not just ignore what everyone had been through.  Together we decided to call everyone into our large conference room.  He began telling his story and encouraging others to talk it out.  I was amazed to hear that some evacuated thousands of miles and others had harrowing experiences in shelters.  At the end, we pulled out a large cake that proclaimed us survivors.  I saw so much healing and bonding as a department.  It was one beautiful moment of compassion combined with leadership.

Jim was very well regarded at UTMB and was often called to the Dean and President's Office for his wisdom.  But greater opportunities were in store for him and I'm glad that he became Dean at the University of Connecticut.  I am so happy he found peace and love with his wife in Arizona.  I hope that he passed enjoying the beautiful outdoors.  May his soul rest in peace.

Jim Halpert was my boss from February 2001, where he hired me away from Microbiology and Immunology, UTMB Galveston until March 2008, when he moved to San Diego. He had asked if John and I would go with him, I was ready to pack my bags when the realization hit when my husband John said that it was very expensive to live there and we would not be able to afford a boat slip and have decent housing and also that John would need to find a job, oh well, so I stuck it out at UTMB until my 60th birthday at UTMB working in the Provost Office. I also had the privilege of being the Editorial Assistant for Drug Metabolism and Disposition during Jim’s term as Editor, from 2001 to 2005.

Jim’s had the ability to recruit some of the best PHTO professors and postdocs to join his department, faculty such as Drs. X. Cheng, S. Gilbertson, G. Swanson and for postdocs in his lab, Emily Scott, Dmitri Davydov, and Santosh Kumar, to name a few.  The only time that I can remember that he was unable to recruit a postdoc was from Mongolia, but I think this worked out for the best. I don’t think he would have adapted to the Texas summer temps and humidity.

DMD was a great opportunity for me to work with Jim on receiving and assigning manuscripts to the Associate Editors; at first, we received paper manuscripts, boy, were we so glad when it went to electronic submission. Thanks to Jim, I got to meet some of the Associate Editors from either being a guest speaker at UTMB as a speaker or when I traveled to an ASPET meeting and met them in presentations or dinners and to name a few, DMD Journal Director, Rich Dodenhoff, Managing Editor, Jill Filler and Associate Editors, Drs. Eddie Morgan (loved listening to his Scottish accent at the dinner table), Russell Prough, Jeffrey Stevens, Steven Wrighton, to name a few. I even had my name mention in a Symposium Article back in 2003, where I gathered research information for Dr. Stevens, which I enjoyed doing immensely and all thanks to Jim for this opportunity.

Jim and some of the faculty and postdocs in the department worked annually with summer high school students with what was called the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP). Each student would work in a lab for I think, about 8 weeks and then finish with presenting a poster presentation of what they learned. What a great opportunity to show them what this academic & research profession was like. We eventually saw some students enroll in the PhD program.

Okay, now I need to try and remember all the parties/outings we had, for faculty retirements or for the holidays. Sorry my laptop crashed before One Drive came into existence, I had some great photos and videos of some of these fun events that Jim held for the department faculty, students and staff. First one that I can recall was for Dr. Odd Steinsland's retirement which was at Fisherman’s Wharf upstairs room, and we had this crooner that Jim found for Odd since Odd wanted one to sing at his party. What a nice evening and I also remember Dr. Betty Williams in attendance at this event, who later retired and moved away. We had a department outing to the Houston Aero’s hockey played and Dr. Richard Hodge at half time, got to try and shoot the puck into the goal. I remember Kee’s and Lisa Elferink’s daughters, who were quite little at the time having a fun time but were shy when I was trying to take their photos. I remember a party at Gaido’s, where we made Jim sing a golden oldie who was hesitant at first but Joanne Collins, Laurie Shook and myself made him and he had a blast doing so. He actually could sing, who knew. We had holiday parties at the Italian restaurant on the strand in the upstairs banquet hall and had a band play and they played all kinds of songs and I found Jim and myself on the dance floor quite a bit of the time. I remember one of Jim’s postdocs at the time, Dmitri, who danced like a robot that was falling, scared me then he was near me, I thought he was falling, but that is the way he danced. I remember having DJs perform too at our events and I always had a great time hanging out with everyone.

I got to meet Jim’s wife Li, when he came back after an invite to present at UTMB. I attended his presentation and the three of us went to lunch at Saltwater Grille. I immediately knew I was going to like her. Li was funny and had a friendly personality and a good match for Jim. I learned that she got Jim going to church and we talked about religion, which this topic carried on in our phone conversations for several years.

I am going to miss Jim, who called or emailed me every December 1st to wish me a happy birthday and I reciprocated with a phone call or email to him on his birthday every year on December 5th. I am going to also miss his phone calls when he says he is coming to town and wanted to check with mine and John's schedule first before committing to anything, to just come by the farm or go out to dinner.  Jim was a thoughtful and caring person and dear friend of mine. 

Li, hugs to you and your daughter and please know that Jim will be missed by many, and even though he has left our lives, he will never leave our hearts.