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<p><em>James Francis Xavier “Jim” Looram</em> was a remarkable man who left an indelible impression on all those he met.</p>
<p>Jim was an Army Airborne Ranger, a decorated combat veteran, a Ph.D., a business owner, a published author, an exhibited artist, and, most important to him, a devoted husband of 57 years, a proud father of five and a doting grandfather of nine.</p>
<p>Born and raised in Queens, NY to Dr. James F.X. Looram and Mary Harden Looram, he graduated from Xavier, a high school in Manhattan whose mission was to prepare students to be “men for others.” So, it was a natural next step for him to choose a life of service to country by attending West Point.</p>
<p>Jim thoroughly embraced that service ethos at West Point. His activities ranged from Catholic Acolytes and Choir to the Dialectic Society. He participated in the Pistol Club, German Club, Ski Club, and Parachute Club.</p>
<p>His classmates looked to him to figure out how to enjoy life outside the Academy on the Spartan cadet pay. Organizing a tour of Germany and France in a rented VW with three of his classmates, Jim made sure that they came back with change in their pockets from the 100 dollars they each started with.</p>
<p>Jim met his wife, nee Mary Bellacosa, when his cousin brought two girlfriends to visit West Point for blind dates. Jim made sure to get to Mary first, and they were inseparable ever after. They would go on to forge a loving partnership to raise five children, to make a home in six states, and to grow beside one another throughout their lives. Most importantly, as Jim loved to say, Mary was the only person he wanted to end every day with.</p>
<p>During his 20-year military career, Jim served two combat tours. After attending the Defense Language Institute, where he graduated first in his class, he became an advisor to a Vietnamese Army infantry battalion and then the S-3 operations officer in the 7th Air Cavalry Regiment. On his second tour he was the briefing officer for General Creighton Abrams, Commander of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV). Awarded the Bronze Star, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross and the Meritorious Service Medal, Jim also earned an early promotion to lieutenant colonel and a teaching position in the Military Psychology and Leadership Department at West Point.</p>
<p>On the West Point faculty, Jim was a highly respected and popular professor. He was famous with some (and infamous with others) for always wearing a huge Mickey Mouse watch that Mary gave him so he wouldn’t get too full of himself. He was too busy to do that anyway, volunteering to teach the Academy’s first black studies course and finishing his Ph.D. in organizational behavior at New York University.</p>
<p>Completing his military career as the director of training for the Army’s Organizational Effectiveness program, Jim had an easy transition to his second career. He founded and led a private consulting business focused on team building, leadership, diversity, and personal development. Believing deeply in helping individuals to discover their best and authentic self for professional effectiveness and personal fulfillment, he authored a book, Your Essential Self, that spread his philosophy far and wide.</p>
<p>Jim lived what he taught! He found harmony in the physical, creative, and commercial spheres of his life. He ran five marathons and was an avid golfer. He transitioned from an amateur sculptor to an abstract painter, acquiring what he called a “street peddler” license to sell his paintings at New York City art fairs and gallery exhibits.</p>
<p>Most importantly, he fostered—and was energized by—the lives of his family. Giddily supportive of his wife’s stage roles in theatrical groups at the military posts where they lived, he encouraged her to become a professional actress. After he retired from the military, they moved to New York City, where Mary’s talents were quickly “discovered,” and she appeared in movies and TV shows, ranging from Billions to Orange is the New Black.</p>
<p>Jim and Mary’s five children are following in their parents’ busy lifestyle. Patrick runs marketing and communication businesses in Thailand and Vietnam; Mary Frances founded a corporate wellness firm; Mark and Sean are based in Hong Kong running a flourishing international trading business; and Meaghan heads the New York Times photojournalism department. In Meaghan’s eulogy for her dad, she summed up his life well: “Jim was a formidable man, and not at all uncomplicated. He was also incredibly charming and deeply loyal and affectionate toward those he loved. He placed the highest of values on being a good listener, but, true to his Irish heritage, he was an animated storyteller who enjoyed taking some colorful license. His frequent refrain was ‘All stories are true. Some of them actually happened.’”</p>
<p>To the lasting joy and benefit to family, friends and students, Jim Looram’s story actually happened.</p>
<p><em>— His family and Charles Welsh ’61 </em></p>
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