Memories of James "Jim" F Thorne

Many years ago, Jim was my college roommate and friend. I was always in a awe of his academic excellence, humility and fine sense of humor. I’m sorry he left us at such a young age.

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Michael Pressman

I've been engaging lately with my colleagues at The Nature Conservancy doing incredible work to protect and restore the Central Appalachians. I remembered the other day that Jim was one of the leaders in the late 90's getting us to think across state lines to the scale of the Central Apps landscape. The leadership of him and others to create that Central Apps ecoregional plan formed the basis for what developed into a robust and successful model for collaborative conservation at scale - a place where TNC is leaning in with organizational alignment from bottom to top.

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Michael Pressman

I shared the below with some colleagues at The Nature Conservancy and from UPenn after Jim's death. I hope all of you are finding your healing path through this big loss..... Michael Pressman

I got to visit with Jim a few years ago while traveling in PA. His Alzheimer’s was present, but it didn’t stop us from having a touching visit, sharing memories, and catching up on each other’s lives and the lives of our families. I remember Jim as a friend, colleague, teacher, and mentor who was always filled with the spirit of life, had a schoolboy’s curiosity and playfulness, cared deeply about others, and was motivated with a drive to conserve and restore his part of the world to his fullest. 29 of my 51 years on this planet have been blessed by knowing this kind spirit. He also was my link to getting to know and work with all of you and launching my conservation career.

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Matt Thorne

Just wanted to pass along a great post written in memory of my Dad/Jim on the Natural Lands Trust website. It was written by Dan Barringer, who is the Preserve Manager at Crow's Nest Preserve and worked closely with Jim while at NLT.

https://natlands.org/in-memor…

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Sue Peerson

Summer (1991) Field Ecology in Mexico was a highlight of my time at the University of Pennsylvania. I received my Master of Landscape Architecture degree and Jim Thorne was a mentor, friend and outstanding educator.

Jim's love of nature and his passion for landscape ecology was contagious! His knowledge of each biome we visited - digging soil pits, drawing the vegetative layers, reading the geology - made our 2 weeks a field laboratory course!

I remember his laugh, smile and energy. So many great memories from our time together. We will miss you Jim -- your legacy carries on with all of us! Sharing a few photos from Mexico Summer Field Ecology.

My condolences to the Thorne family.

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Anu Mathur

Dear Rosemary - I just read of Jim's passing in the School of Design newsletter and it brought back a time at Penn I remember so warmly. I was one of the fortunate students who got to travel with Jim and Laura to Mexico in 1989. Three years after graduation when I was offered the chance to interview at Penn for assistant professor Jim called me and urged me to come. I was hesitant about taking this leap into teaching at that time but followed Jim's advice -- he told me something to the effect that 'at that time Penn was interested in me - if I waited till I was sure they might not be interested and the moment would pass' - I interviewed and was offered the job and rarely looked back! After more than 25 years of teaching here I am now taking early retirement. I am sad that I lost touch with Jim when he had to leave Penn -- a wonderful teacher and friend with a smile that would light up a gloomy day! with my best wishes and condolences to you all. Anu Mathur

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Betsy Rich

Shared a heart

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Betsy Rich

So sorry to hear of Jim's passing. We lost touch after he was on my committee, but he was a wonderful friend and mentor. He was the one to come into the field with me, and talk to me about his projects and mine. He was a true conservationist; I was inspired by his commitment to saving land and limiting development of open space. He often spoke of his family and I know he held you all near and with love.

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Keith Stewart

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Betsy Rich

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Keith Stewart

Jim, Rosemary, Flavia at the farm house during renovation Jim, Rosemary, Flavia at the farm house during renovation Jim, Rosemary, Flavia at the farm house during renovation... Read more

Keith Stewart

Jim Thorne was a good friend for over 40 years. His passing leaves a hole, as I’m sure it does in the lives of so many of us who cherished our friendship with him. Jim and I met at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in the late 1970’s and with each passing year got to know each better. Everyone liked Jim. You couldn’t not like him. He was solid, warm, funny, intelligent, generous, a lover of nature and a dedicated environmentalist. If those qualities were not enough to win you over then all that was needed was one flash of his broad, slightly impish smile that said more about who Jim was than words ever could.

Here’s a few memories of times spent with my dear friend Jim.

Soon after Yale, Jim and Rosemary lived in Brooklyn, NY for a year or so while Rosemary was studying to be a midwife. I was living in Manhattan with my then girlfriend and future wife, Flavia Bacarella. We saw each other from time to time and Flavia and I knew Jim was in training to run the NY City marathon. To me that was impressive. Though relatively fit in my prime, I never managed to run more than 6 or 8 miles at a stretch and usually that felt like too much. On the big day, we met up with Rosemary and the three of us watched Jim nearing the finish line in Central Park. He looked good — like another few miles would not have bothered him. Afterwards the four of us got together with some other friends at Flavia’s small Upper West Side apartment, to celebrate Jim’s great accomplishment. All were having a good time with food, drink, laughter when we suddenly became aware that the guest of honor was missing. Where on earth had he gone? Soon enough, someone thought to look in the bedroom. There Jim was, laid out flat on the bed like a log with branch-like arms on either side. We called to him but he didn’t budge. After running 26 miles it made sense to me.

When Flavia and I bought our farm in Orange County, NY Jim and Rosemary had already moved to Philadelphia. The first time they visited was on the day of our wedding, a week or so after we had closed on the farm. As can be seen in one of these photos, they already had Megan and Matthew in tow, and they were radiant. It was such a delight to have them there as we got married on the lawn in front of our new old house on a beautiful summer day. The corn in the fields was 8 feet high.

Over the years we visited Jim and Rosemary in Philadelphia and more recently at Promised Land State Park. And quite often they came to the farm. Jim enjoyed being out on the land with me. He offered advice on soil management, helped out with farm chores and put some serious work into pruning and breathing life back into a very old and large apple tree. After a couple of failed attempts to place a conservation easement on the farm, I recruited Jim to embellish a new application with a writeup on the endangered bog turtle and the likelihood that our property contained some ideal bog turtle habitat. Jim wrote a professional and credentialed piece stating that, while he did not actually see a bog turtle, there was a good chance that they were present or, if they weren’t, would wish that they were. That was my last attempt to protect our land from future development and it was successful.

In the summer of 2019, after attending a wedding in Philadelphia, Flavia and I stayed overnight with Jim and Rosemary in their home in Media. Jim was very quiet and uncertain. His movements were slow and unsteady. His condition had worsened significantly since our last get-together nearly a year before. It was clear he was living in a strange and unfamiliar place, that he was somewhat lost to the world that most of us know. At one point in the afternoon I stepped outside the house and onto an adjoining deck. Minutes later Jim came through sliding doors to join me. I made a couple of remarks about the fine trees around their house. He smiled but didn’t say anything. A few moments passed then he turned to look at me and said simply, “I have Alzheimer’s”. Soon the two of us stepped back inside. Those are the last words I remember hearing from Jim. They were said without misgiving and with his characteristic honesty. I will not forget them and I will not forget him.

Here’s a line to ponder from one of my favorite American poets, Galway Kinnell:

The wages of dying is love.

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Keith Stewart

Jim, Rosemary, Megan, Matthew at our wedding in 1986 Jim, Rosemary, Megan, Matthew at our wedding in 1986 Jim, Rosemary, Megan, Matthew at our wedding in 1986... Read more

Rosemary FitzGerald

My friend, Doug, out in Wisconsin, found this short clip of Jim on You Tube where Jim is describing his efforts to form the Hopewell Big Woods Partnership which became the largest contiguous protected forested land in SE Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, Doug found it on the internet after Jim had passed. In the last couple of years Jim would have delighted and taken pride in knowing that others could hear him speak passionately about his beloved Big Woods. I feel joy in knowing that our grandchildren will be able to briefly see and hear their grandpa in the years ahead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch…

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Rosemary FitzGerald

1982, Somewhere in Mexico

Jim and Laura. She asked the men what they were going to do with the iguanas. It was a Sunday, their day off and they were going to go home, cook them up and eat them.

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Rosemary FitzGerald

This was on a reconnaissance trip to scout out different ecosystems where they were going to take the Penn... Read more This was on a reconnaissance trip to scout out different ecosystems where they were going to take the Penn students. I was along... Read more This was on a reconnaissance trip to scout out different... Read more

Rosemary FitzGerald

1984, Xalapa, Ver., Mexico

Jim with the metate that he and Laura discovered and reburied

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Rosemary FitzGerald

Laura Snook, who is a Class of '80 Yale Forestry grad as Jim was, sent this remembrance of Jim. She co-taught a class with Jim to a group of Univ of Penn Landscape Architect grad students. They would travel around Mexico visiting and teaching about different ecosystems and they did this for about 8 years, 1984-1992. This is what Laura wrote:
" I was just recalling the time Jim dug up prehispanic pots in a soil pit up on what we referred to as "the knife edge", near Xalapa. We wondered if it had been part of a burial site. We packed them carefully and carried them down the rugged steep trail back to Xalapa with the idea of taking them to an archeologist at the local museum but we didn't have the time to do that. By the time Jim and I returned the next year, Jim had decided that the right thing to do was to take them back and rebury them. So we carefully packed them up again and carried them back up "the knife's edge" and he reburied them. I have many fond memories of Jim through which he will continues to live as part of my life. Jim has always been a very sensitive, thoughtful and spiritual man."" Read less

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In response to "What made Jim different from most people you know?"

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Michael Pressman

2019, Minnesota, USA

This is something that Michael Pressman sent in an email at the end of 2019. Michael was a student and also a co-worker of Jim's and they had a very deep connection.
" Jim's been on my mind especially recently. I had a couple of dreams about him over the past year, called to check in, and he didn't return the VM which I took as a bad sign...It sounds like his fast decline began around the time of my last dream about him...I came to Penn with a strong interest, but very little knowledge, in widlife conservation. Jim's knowledge, passion, guidance and friendship helped shape that interest into a path that has been a tremendously rewarding career. Surveys show that about 70% of Americans are not engaged in their work. I am blessed and privileged to get to be in that other 30%. Jim has been a key part in that, both as a professor and advisor as well as a colleague and friend. I know you know how special he is (was) but I thought I'd also share how special he has been to me in my life. I'm sure many, many other people equally carry him in their heart for similar reasons.

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Suey Braatz

1983, Cutchogue, NY

Jim with Yale friends at gathering on Long Island

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Suey Braatz

1995, CT

Jim Dave and Tom at Class of '80 Yale F&ES reunion

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Suey Braatz

My friendship with Jim spanned over forty years, dating back to our entry into Yale forestry in 1978. Jim, Rosemary and I shared an apartment in New Haven for one of our graduate school years and have had seen each other on and off throughout the years -- at all our forestry school reunions, at my house on Long Island and later in Italy, and most recently -- a few months ago -- in Media. It has been a joy to have them in my life even if the opportunities to get together have been infrequent and irregular. As with the best of old friends, no matter how long the interval since our last meeting, we would find ourselves immediately back on the same wavelength; the time and distance that had separated us were immaterial. Jim had a big heart and a kind soul. He had a wide grin and an impish quality. Always ready for an adventure, ready with a laugh, ready with a big hug. Jim cared about things that mattered -- his work in teaching and conservation, his family, his friends, his concern for social justice. Among the dozens of images that flash across my brain when I think of Jim include Jim jumbled into bed with nine other Yale F&ES students on a Hubbard Brook field trip, Jim training for marathons and out on long bike rides, Jim always being ready to skinny dip with the Class of '80 no matter where or how awful the weather, Jim on the infamous Puerto Rico field trip (coffee husks, dope, sunburn, and lignum vitae), Jim digging for mussels on Long Island, Jim listening to Willie and Waylon in our New Haven apartment, Jim and Rosemary's visits to me in Rome and Umbria. I feel privileged to have had Jim as a friend all these years and to have so many treasured memories.

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Suey Braatz

1995

Jim at the Yale Class of '80 reunion

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Sara Kendall

To Rosemary and all of Jim's family, I am so sorry for your loss. I knew Jim in Forestry School, and Rosemary too, our honorary classmate! He was the ever-present smiling face on our Forestry School field trips and a pure scientist/conservationist, of first order. I also had a family member succumb to Alzheimer's. It is a dreadful disease and I am sorry you had to experience it so painstakingly. Hold Jim's smile in your hearts. He really was one of the world's Good Guys! Peace to you all, Sara Kendall

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Bill and Marcia Montgomery

It was our pleasure to meet Jim in grad school years. Then, as throughout his life, he was a brilliant, dedicated and gracious person dedicated to those he loved and building a better world. There is no doubt, the world is certainly better as a result of Jim's life and efforts. He'll remain in our hearts and leaves behind the legacy of his family and the lasting contributions he made to the earth. Rest in peace, Jim. You are missed.

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Jay Reeves

May his soul Rest In Peace

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ingrid overacker

When I was 16 years old I met a guy. His name was Jim Thorne. I called him Thorne. He was my high school boyfriend. Its difficult to communicate how central he was to my life for over 50 years, or to convey the extraordinary spirit he possessed or the intellect he commanded or the joy he conveyed to all who knew him.
When I was a senior and Thorne was a sophomore at the UofR, we had broken up. It was fairly common in the dating schemes of the 1970s for couple to break up, get back together, break up again. But we had parted ways, though we stayed in touch. For example, I knew how to contact him at the UofR. My father died.
I called Thorne to let him know because he and my father were close. He caught the next bus home. When he got home, he called me and said "I forgot to ask you if you wanted me to come". I said yes, I wanted him to come home and he said he would leave his house and walk to meet me. I left my house and we walked to meet each other on Flower Ave. When he saw me, his face broke out in that wonderful smile he had. I crumpled. He ran to me, picked me up and carried me to the golf course that bordered the street where I lived. He sat me down in his lap under a pine tree and held me while I cried. That was Thorne.
Several years later, after he was married and we were the kind of friends who counted on each other, I went through a period of confronting things that I had experienced as a teenager. I called Thorne and asked him if he would be willing to sort some memories out with me. He and Rosemary invited me to visit in PA and I went. One thing I remember in particular about that cleansing experience was asking him to describe my parents. He said, "your father had a heart of gold, and your mother was an absolute bitch". I needed to hear that my perceptions of who I was and how I experienced things were valid. He gave me that.
When I was in a serious car accident, he came. When I published my book, he came to the party. When I ever needed him, he was there. To celebrate, to commiserate, to figure things out. I could count on him.
As his mental health deteriorated and he was less able to communicate, his spirt shone bright from his presence. The last time I saw Thorne, he wasn't able to engage in a conversation. This was a man whose intellect was brilliant, who used his mind to improve the world. When we got up to leave and I hugged him he said "I'm not going to let you go" " I won't ever let you go."
The heavens are brighter for his presence, but oh, how much we have lost.

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Rosemary FitzGerald

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Rosemary FitzGerald

What a lovely remembrance. What a lovely remembrance. What a lovely remembrance.

ingrid overacker

The Thorne cottage at the lake, Sackets Harbor, NY

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Rosemary FitzGerald

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ingrid overacker

Thorne is showing something amazing to Dylan. Thorne is showing something amazing to Dylan. Thorne is showing something amazing to Dylan.

Matt Thorne

That one is actually me, and one of my favorite photos of us together. Really shows the joy my Dad had for... Read more That one is actually me, and one of my favorite photos of us together. Really shows the joy my Dad had for sharing nature with... Read more That one is actually me, and one of my favorite photos... Read more

ingrid overacker

Matt, I am so sorry. All these years I thought it was Dylan. I'm glad to now be corrected, and yes, it's... Read more Matt, I am so sorry. All these years I thought it was Dylan. I'm glad to now be corrected, and yes, it's one of the few pictures... Read more Matt, I am so sorry. All these years I thought it ... Read more

Matt Thorne

This would have been 1988, the summer before Dylan was born, based on other pictures I have from the same... Read more This would have been 1988, the summer before Dylan was born, based on other pictures I have from the same trip up to Watertown.... Read more This would have been 1988, the summer before Dylan ... Read more

ingrid overacker

Rochester, NY, USA

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ingrid overacker

I'm pretty sure this was taken at my 40th birthday party in Rochester, NY. I'm pretty sure this was taken at my 40th birthday party in Rochester, NY. I'm pretty sure this was taken at my 40th birthday ... Read more

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James "Jim" F Thorne

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