Some of my most treasured memories have been on trips with Bob.

I joined the Sierra Singles Club in 1972 after taking the Basic Mountaineering Course.  It was here I found the greatest leader ever, Bob James.  For over 15 years, I followed Bob up and down mountains on numerous backpacks, always bringing up the rear!  He was patient, kind and always ready to offer advice and assistance.  We usually camped by lakes surrounded by magnificent mountains and scenery.  Evenings were special as we sat around a fire with Johnny Walker leading us in singing folk songs while playing a small guitar.  Bob accompanied on his harmonicas.  Many Thanksgivings, we carried a prepared traditional feast into the base of the Grand Canyon.

A significant memory is a morning at the end of an annual week's backpack south of Mammoth.  Since it took me a while to pack up, Bob always came over to my tent each morning to wake me up.  This one morning he announced it was snowing and we had to pack up and leave right away.  It was not quite light and I was so cosy, I thought he was joking.  I went back to sleep.  A while later Bob came back and shook my tent.  I looked out to see a row of people holding backpacks, ready to depart and snow everywhere!

In winter we went cross-country skiing at Mammoth as well as our local mountains and occasionally traveled out of state.  Other times of the year, we canoed down the Colorado River or camped at Twin Harbors on Catalina Island where we swam, snorkeled and enjoyed tasty meals at the local restaurant.  We sailed in Bob's boat and relaxed with Bob and Helen at their cabin in Laguna Mountain.

Oh, what adventures!  I am so thankful to Bob for filling my life with new experiences and sharing these with life-long friends.  I will be forever grateful to him.

Bob was lucky to have met Helen with whom he found a soul-mate to share his life and love of the water, enjoying many cruises in his later years.

So long, dear Bob, until we meet again.



I have many special memories of Bob. I remember the wonderful canoe trips he led on the Colorado River for Sierra Singles and still have the T-shirt.  I remember many terrific backpacks to the Sierras and trips to Catalina, with snorkeling and kayaking.  I also remember a cross country ski trip to Telluride and Bob calling a square dance for the group.  He was terrific on the harmonica and loved playing music with Jonny Walker.  Those were the days!  I didn't see Bob in recent years but know he had fun with the guys at their beer get togethers.  He was a special person and will be greatly missed.  Camille Rothenburg

Reciprocity is the law of life.  However, the problem with Bob James was that he was so giving, talented, and generous that you were always deeply in debt to him.

Years ago, we were on one of Bob’s many Thanksgiving backpacking trips to Phantom Ranch.  The weather on top was truly awful:  cold, windy, gloomy, and with spectacular thunder and lightning storms all around the horizon of the Colorado Plateau.  There was plenty of snow and ice on the ground.  With anyone else leading, we absolutely would have bailed, but Bob assured us that it was safe and that the weather down in the Canyon would be fine.  Naturally, he was correct and our reliance on his expertise was richly rewarded again.

Back in 2004, Bob led his last trip down the South Kaibab Trail and up the Bright Angel Trail  --  at age 77.  He had slowed down very little, and he climbed out of the 4,500-foot-deep ditch with his usual grace and good humor, and all the while carrying on a fun conversation.


I knew Bob as a kind, gentle, and loving man. Most of all I remember him as the husband of my good friend Helen who, through their Union of love, gave each other a lifetime of happiness.  I remember their wedding and was overjoyed that two wonderful people had found each other.  To read about Bob’s early life is fascinating and I’m sorry I didn’t have the opportunity to know him during those years,  but I know he was so loved and will be missed by so many. 

As I read the memories of so many others, my regret is that I didn't have the privilege of knowing Bob in his younger years. But I did get to spend time with him in his latter years. He would join Helen and her friends for lunch, wine tasting, and story sharing on their Mt. Laguna cabin deck. Seemed his only frustration was the woodpecker holes in his cabin logs! He is my inspiration for how to live happily and productively for every possible moment. Two things I will never forget: Bob's wonderful hugs, and his devotion to Helen...

So many Sierra Club members learned camping skills and more from Bob, including me.  As a Midwestern suburbanite, I knew nothing of camping, backpacking, map and compass skills much less how to erect a tent!  Bob patiently taught these skills to me and to many of my friends.  There was nothing better than a trip led by Bob usually ending with singing around the campfire.  He also taught me to cross country ski on trips to Mammoth, Telluride, and Utah.  Generally, if Bob was leading I was following.  He opened a new world to me.  Bob was also a faithful and loving friend to me and to many others.  I miss you very much, dear friend!

Bob took me on my very first Sierra Club backpack.  It was a long time ago.  What a fine human being he was, always so kind and generous with his time.

We hiked the Grand Canyon many times with him, including the Thanksgiving when he was camping at Phantom Ranch and a park ranger came to take him to the phone, where he learned his beloved daughter had been killed in an auto accident. 

Early the next morning, he hiked the long, difficult climb out of the canyon and took a bus back to San Diego facing a tragedy no parent ever wants to experience.

He touched so many lives and we all appreciated his strength, and his outstanding community service.   Just about everyone who hiked or backpacked knew who Bob James was.  He was a legend. 

The Bob I knew was always very calm except on two occasions.
Once was when he suddenly realized I was steering his sailboat right at a submerged rock wall in the harbor.
The other time was when a Raven snatched a bag of Thanksgiving turkey from our picnic table in the Grand Canyon. He shouted and waved his fists to no avail. Later I had difficulty keeping up with him as we hiked up Angel's trail. He was 80! What a guy!

Sorry to see of our beloved uncle Bob's passing. 
As a youngster going to James family reunions I always looked forward to seeing my uncle Bob. 
My mother, Bob's sister passed in 2014 today would have been her 104th birthday. 
Whenever they were together there was lots of teasing, laughing  and giggling. The last of a great family. Rest in peace Uncle Bob you'll always be thought of with love. 

Bob joined our family in May of 1987 when he married our cousin Helen Foster James. He immediately struck my brother Justin and me as a "Stand-Up Guy," but not in the traditional gangster way. Instead, in the honest to goodness, good-guy way. We had the immediate impression that Bob was one of those rare people in life that everybody likes. Why? Because he was so kind and sincere. He was always friendly and always upbeat, even when things were not going so well. He was definitely a Renaissance man, the kind of guy who flourished at anything and everything. He could solve the toughest of math problems, build a house from a box of toothpicks, and toss a couch through a second-story window. Yes, he could do it all! My greatest regret is...not hanging out with Bob and Helen enough. However, at least I was able to share some good moments of life with them. I will miss you dearly Bob, foremost, for taking care of my cousin Helen in the grandest of ways, and lastly, because I won't get to hear the highlights of your next cruise. Live on brother! We will cherish you forever!

I remember the summer my family and I went to San Diego.  I was probably 8 or 9 at the time, but still remember I got to stay with my Uncle Bobby!  We sailed on his boat and he bought me my first REAL dive mask and snorkel!  He and my mother stayed in touch until the day she died 1 year ago.  I regret not making her go back to California to see Uncle Bobby before she died.

I  remember Bob for all the camping and hiking we did with many of our friends.  I will always remember Catalina, the Grand Canyon, Mineral King and a lot of good times at the cabin in the Lagunas. Bob was a great friend and I will miss him dearly.

I can’t recall the year I met Bob, but I know it was through his wife, Helen Foster James. Both of us writers, Helen and I belonged to the same writers’ group, the Blind Orphan Ponies, and the group would often meet at Aesop’s Tables for a writerly lunch, meaning they would often begin at 11:00 a.m. and last until 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. At one such lunch Bob was there separately with his daughter Beckie, and Helen introduced them to the group. He sensed that we had writerly things to discuss (i.e., publishing gossip) and, with his daughter, retreated to another part of the restaurant. Or perhaps he sensed potential embarrassment because the BOPs were often loud and raucous, and sometimes had to be shushed by management. That was my first meeting with Bob, but later a story came up that amused me. Helen would often ask me to speak to her college classes about writing and publishing, and upon one occasion Helen created a gift certificate rolled up like a scroll that offered me a weekend’s use of their cabin in the Laguna mountains, good for redemption at any future time. Bob, I was told, asked Helen, “But what if he isn’t a cabin-kind of guy?” 
Oh, Bob, if somehow you are reading this, know that I wish we had known each other better because I am both an introvert and a cabin-kind of guy. Being alone in a cabin in the Lagunas would be my idea of heaven. You were a special man, and this I know because you were and will continue to be loved by Helen.


I met Bob in September 1963.  This was his first semester teaching physics at Grossmont College and  I was a student in his class as a first semester college freshman.  It was a 5 unit physics class of which I earned and he gave me a grade of “F” (I still have the report card).   This experience was instrumental in altering my attitude about college.  I repeated the class with Bob as the instructor and did much better with a “B” grade.  Ultimately I earned a college degree in electronic engineering and retired 11 years ago after a 40 year career.   Bob taught me a life long lesson which far exceeded anything any physics book could offer.  He was quite the educator in many respects.  

Bob lead many memorable trips to Catalina Island & the Grand Canyon. Those of us who were fortunate to go on these trips still remember them fondly. He was a kind & wonderful man who will never be forgotten. 

Bob taught me some life lessons that I've tried to practice all my life. I came to know Bob shortly after joining the Sierra Club in the late 70s. I observed his easy, yet affective way he managed the outings he led. When I was in the process of becoming an outings leader, I chose Bob to be one of my mentors and, under his tutelage, led my first outing. Over the campfire, I asked Bob what he would do if someone on the trip broke their leg? Here are his words that apply to every crisis I've ever faced and are always applicable, "you just do the best that you can." Simple but so profound and always applicable. 

I've enjoyed many trips with Bob, The Grand Canyon, Catalina, and the High Sierra. I'd follow him anywhere and we always had a fine time and racked up many memorable adventures. In later years, usually over a beer, he shared memories of his early life, growing up in a hard scrabble situation in rural Vermont and his time in WWII as a young Merchant Marine officer,  riding on a tanker hauling fuel around the Pacific. Neither of those scenarios were enviable situations.

Who could ask more of a friend? Life lessons and wonderful memories I will charish for all my days.

Since Helen and I both write books for kids, we'd often bump into each other at conferences. And, of course, Bob was there, too. At one event, right before a speaker was about to begin, I realized that one lens of my glasses was missing. By some lucky quirk of fate, I spotted it on the floor before it was scratched, squashed, or gone for good. I sat there trying to fiddle with the screw to get it back in place. You can guess the rest. It was Bob to the rescue—he easily fixed my specs and I was back in business. You'd think that was the end of the story. But no. At another conference, we met again. And yes, a lens fell out. And Bob kindly made yet another repair. Kindly really is the right word for this gracious gentleman. One of the good guys in the world. Sorely missed.

I've known Bob since 1964 when we shared an office in the Physics Dept. at Grossmont College. We were close friends thereafter. We usually lunched together during those decades, discussing our students, world affairs, and most everything else. I admired many things about Bob, but especially his qualities as a 'straight arrow', honest and open. He was well liked by his students because he took the time both in class and in office hours to patiently illustrate and explain the intricacies of physics. He even had the patience to teach me how to sail(he's making sure I maintain true course in the attached photo). We often  shared our love of the outdoors, frequently sailing, but also hiking the Grand Canyon or driving into Baja California and camping out on the beaches of the Gulf of California. We stayed in touch all those years after we'd both retired, often meeting at Grossmont College retiree breakfasts. I will miss him for the rest of my days.

AVIS DE DÉCÈS

Robert Paul Gerard James

21 janvier 1927 – 21 octobre 2021

El Camino Memorial - Sorrento Valley & Memorial Park

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