Born April 10, 1940, Jim was welcomed by doting parents Adeline Mae (Reetz) Tate and James Leroy Tate, Sr. (“Lee”). However, his father soon had to leave, having registered for the draft. Lee went through U.S. Army training at Camp Shelby, while Jim and his mother stayed with her family in Mauston, Wisconsin. Lee’s service began in Camp Lucky Strike near Le Havre, France with the Army’s 65th Halberd Division, then he spent eleven months in Europe as Patton’s Third Army advanced through France and Bavaria, capturing the towns of Langensalza and Struth. The 65th liberated Hersbruck, a satellite of the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp, before finally occupying Linz in Austria.
Following the war’s end, Lee and his young family moved to Aurora, Illinois. As an only child, Jim spent much of his time outdoors, embracing his family’s interest in hunting and fishing. He came to books at an early age, beginning with cowboys and Indians, mountain men, science fiction and Scouting.
By 1950, the family had moved again. In Waterman, Illinois, the now 10-year-old budding outdoorsman loved roaming the fields and hedgerows with his small dog. Whenever he could find time between homework and chores, he had ‘adventures’ such as building a secret fort hidden in the center of a nearby cornfield. Jim graduated from Waterman High School in 1958, and his family moved to DeKalb, so that Jim could attend Northern Illinois University.
At the end of an academically ordinary freshman year, he took a summer job as a painter. While painting the hipped-roof dormers on the third level of a large barn, the ladder broke, and Jim fell. While he suffered no spinal injuries, he damaged many of the bones in his lower body. Treatment in 1959 for shattered ankles was complete fusion of the joint, so his ankles were never able to bend again; the pain and injuries impacted the rest of his life.
Waking up in traction to begin the healing process, Jim had a long opportunity to consider his pathway forward. While immobilized, he rejected depression or being ‘handicapped’, instead choosing an intellectual approach that would allow him to have an impact on – and in – the outdoor world he loved.
Jim quickly returned to campus and became a common sight on his crutches – even managing to continue hunting and fishing. He got to know his future wife, Jean Ridinger in chemistry lab, and while supporting their major professor on a Bald Eagle project along the Mississippi River. Spending summers at the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) solidified the union between his outdoor interests and his newly embraced academic pursuits. In 1962, Jim was awarded a Bachelor of Science (Biology) degree from Northern Illinois University.
Later that year, Jim enrolled in the University of the Pacific, in Stockton, California, and also began to author scientific publications. He returned to Aurora in 1963 to marry Jean before they moved to California. Jim earned his Master of Science (Zoology) degree from the University of the Pacific in 1964, with a thesis entitled Avian Communities of San Joaquin County, California.
The University of Michigan Biological Station took on a larger significance as Jim began working as a graduate assistant for Dr. Sewell Pettingill, a renowned ornithology professor. This association led to several summers serving as an instructor at the Audubon Camp on Hog Island in Maine, as well as continued studies and a specialization in ornithology. With his dissertation Foraging Behavior of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Jim earned his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska in 1969.
Jim and Jean moved to Ithaca, New York, where he was named Associate Director of the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology, and she began teaching as well. Jim and Jean then welcomed their only child, Brant Matthew Tate, in 1972.
The next year, Jim’s young family moved to Denver, Colorado, where he transitioned from academia to industry, taking a job with the Atlantic Richfield Company. Responsible for environmental permitting and regulatory compliance for ARCO’s Coal Creek and Black Thunder coal mines in Wyoming, Jim developed an innovative and successful method of moving Golden Eagle nests from the path of the oncoming strip mine. He also ventured into public policy, leading the Western Regional Council industry task force on the 1982 reauthorization of the federal Endangered Species Act and testifying several times before the U.S. Congress.
Jim’s continued interest in field ornithology led to his guiding tours to the Alaskan Pribilof Islands and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, sometimes accompanied by his wife and son. Jim was a regular participant in local bird counts and served with the Arvada Volunteer Fire Department, while continuing his lifelong interest in fishing and hunting. However, as the energy sector struggled to emerge from the oil crisis of the late 1970s, ARCO restructured, reducing its workforce by about twelve thousand people over the next decade – one of these being Jim.
After Jim and Jean divorced in 1983, Jim moved east to Washington D.C. to join the U.S. Department of the Interior for a temporary appointment in what was then called the Office of Surface Mining. This role required secondment to the Knoxville, Tennessee branch, a location which allowed him to follow up on his family’s history there, and also to pursue his interest in the Civil War and how it shaped the Tate family and the nation. In 1986, Jim married Lin Schmale, in Sidney, Nebraska. The couple bought a home on a leafy street near Georgetown, in Washington D.C. Brant visited on school vacations, sometimes with his best friend Erick Hohenegger.
In 1989, Jim transferred to a role as an Endangered Species Wildlife Biologist and Policy Analyst for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Two years later, he was invited by Senator Malcolm Wallop of Wyoming to continue working on fish, wildlife and endangered species – but now on the professional staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Natural Resources. This job allowed Jim to join the newly formed, bipartisan Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus. Bidding on sporting adventure packages at Caucus events – and occasionally winning them – provided a way to reconnect with Brant on fishing trips to Alaska and Brazil. These trips formed a new foundation for their father-son relationship, as did the shared experience of Brant’s 1994 graduation from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Continuing his policy-focused work, in 1995 Jim moved to the staff of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, under Senator Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho. He managed major legislative initiatives, including the reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act, and the establishment of the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation. Jim’s work led to a two-year role as Advisory Scientist for the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory through 2001.
After the election of President George W. Bush, Jim was named as Science Advisor to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, who remains a lifelong friend. In this role, he represented Norton on the National Invasive Species Council, and he also served as Head of Delegation to the Arctic Council’s Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, which required “top secret” clearance and trips to St. Petersburg and Moscow as well as to Yakutsk in Siberia.
Retiring from Federal service in 2007, Jim continued to work on environmental and biological questions and on endangered and threatened species recovery. He served as Senior Fellow and on the Board of Regents of the Potomac Institute for Policy Study, and as a Research Associate for the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. Jim also undertook hands-on biology, advising on possible sightings of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, supporting the local City Wildlife efforts, and contributing to “Farmers & Hunters Feeding the Hungry” as a regional coordinator.
In 2019, Jim served as President of the Baltimore-Chevy Chase chapter of the Isaac Walton League of America (BCC-IWLA). The next year, Jim’s role as Past-President was distinguished by his receipt of the IWLA Endowment ‘Judge John Tobin’ Service Award. He then continued as an officer of the BCC’s Legacy Foundation.
Alongside his decade of contributions to those organizations, Jim continued to write articles, speak at conferences and otherwise contribute to current scientific discourse. Counting from his first publication in a 1962 Wilson Bulletin, he had amassed some 100 citations. Most recently Jim began writing his memoirs. He envisioned publishing his life story as One Boy’s Life, the first volume in a planned personal and family history. In his notes, Jim suggested that he had had multiple careers: academia, then industry, and then government. This structure might have organized his impressive curriculum vitae – but in reality, he never left the first career. His time in industry can be seen as trying to educate energy producers about the complexities of the environment and to educate environmentalists about the realities of business. He continued in government, attempting to bridge the gap between industry and policymakers, thus completing the circle.
His work – and his continued engagement with environmental issues during retirement – reflect an attitude Jim deliberately adopted, summarized in the Latin phrase that he used in his email signature for many years: Ancora Imparo (“Still Learning”).
While Jim considered himself always a student, the impact of his approach can be seen in his efforts as an instructor, industry liaison, policy writer, scientific author, and also as a parent, neighbor, and volunteer. In every area of his life, Jim worked to continue learning and to empower others to learn alongside him, as he sought the successful implementation of that commitment he had made lying in a hospital bed under traction: to use his intellect to make a difference in – and for – the natural world he so loved.
James L. Tate is survived by his wife, Lin Schmale-Tate of Washington DC, by his former spouse, Jean (Ridinger) Tate of Golden CO, and by his son’s family: Brant and Nicole Tate and their two children, of Brisbane, Australia.
A Memorial Service and Celebration of Life will be held at Saint John’s Episcopal Church, Georgetown, 3240 O Street NW, at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 24, 2024, the Reverend Virginia (Gini) Gerbasi presiding. A reception will follow in the church parish hall. Street parking is free for a two-hour period in Georgetown, and several parking lots are located within a few blocks of the church. If needed, an elevator can be accessed through the church’s ground-level entrance on Potomac Street. For further details, refer to http://www.stjohnsgeorgetown.org.
The family asks that gifts in Jim’s memory be sent to: the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Search Fund, in trust to Jim’s grandchildren, or to St. John’s Episcopal Church. See http://memorium.tate-tate.us for details.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.11.0