James Mahan Tanner

Dr. Tanner was born in Blytheville, Arkansas, on February 8, 1925. He grew up in Blytheville and in the Mississippi River town of Helena, Arkansas, where he played football, won a hot tamale eating contest (by a margin of 13 tamales) and developed an abiding love of the blues and barbecue.

He began college at Sewanee, but his academic career was interrupted by World War II. Dr. Tanner volunteered for the Marine Corps, serving in the Pacific Theater, and he ultimately served as Provost Marshall for Tientsin (now Tianjin), China, one of the largest cities in China. He married Betty Griffin of Vienna, Georgia, and had the first of three sons while in the armed forces.

After leaving the Marine Corps, Dr. Tanner resumed his education at the University of North Carolina with the benefit of the GI Bill, a part-time job, and the reasonable rent of an apartment in a converted chicken coop. At the outset of the Korean Conflict he joined the US Army, and with their help he was able to complete his education with a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina. He then served at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC, and later Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina.

Upon leaving the Army, Dr. Tanner taught Psychology at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, for several years before moving to Birmingham, Alabama, in 1959. There he began a career as a business consulting psychologist, advising various employers on hiring, promotion, and other personnel decisions. Although Dr. Tanner’s support for racial equality was far out of step with Birmingham attitudes in the 1960s, his business skills were great enough for people to accept his views, and his practice expanded rapidly. Dr. Tanner became a key adviser to leaders of a number of Fortune 500 companies in the United States and England.

With the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s, Dr. Tanner retired, despite the entreaties of his clients, and moved to Ocala, Florida, and Cashiers, North Carolina, with his second wife, Jane Tanner. He moved to Cary, North Carolina in 2006.

Dr. Tanner had an immense appetite for life and was filled with enthusiasm. He was a collector of interesting people. A Thanksgiving dinner at his home might include an Austrian Count and a very dubious evangelist as well as more conventional guests. He was an avid golfer and handball player, and served as a Director of the US Handball Association. He maintained his positive attitude and joy in life even as he struggled with Alzheimer’s with the loving assistance of the staffs of Woodland Terrace and Mayview Convalescent Center.

Dr. Tanner is survived by his sons, James Tanner, Jr. of Raleigh, NC, John Tanner of Washington, DC, and David Tanner of Birmingham, Alabama, eight of nine grandchildren, and five great grandchildren.

Arrangements by Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 300 Saint Mary's St. Raleigh, NC.