James ‘Jim’ Schmidt
James “Jim” Edward Schmidt died with family at his side April 7, 2023 at Solon Nursing Care Center.
Fifteen years and one week earlier, he suffered a near fatal stroke that robbed him of speech and mobility. Doctors thought he might not last the week—maybe he wouldn’t have minded if he hadn’t. But there was a remarkable strength in him that wouldn’t let life go so easily, and that carried all the way to the end.
Celebration of Life services will be held at a later date.
Jim was born Sept. 26, 1950, in Grand Rapids, Mich., but his family also lived for a time in Iowa. As a boy in Cedar Falls, Jim dreamed of the sky. He built and tested his balsa wood model airplanes as his younger brothers chased them into the cornfields. Later in life, Jim joined the Civil Air Patrol and soared with the raptors with the Black Hawk Soaring Club near Muscatine.
A graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, with a double major in theater and geology, it was nonetheless his fascination with the burgeoning field of computers that led to his career. Jim worked in information technology at the United Technologies plant in Iowa City, but he began his career with the founding of a computer consulting business in Waterloo.
In his private life his interests were also varied and diverse: from golfing to live music, improvising meals to Tai chi, the war of politics to the peace of woodworking. Jim was a trickster with a warm heart, who would prank a friend one day, but still be there during troubled times with an open ear and sage advice. The quintessential host, Jim, loved muddling a mojito and making sure everyone had enough to eat– he loved holding court and telling stories.
Jim is survived by his wife, Kris Brown, and son Stephen, of Solon; his son Ben (Erin) and their children Will and Mia, of Eagan, Minn.; daughter Maggie of Saint Paul, Minn.; his sister Georgia Slinker (Daryl), of Cedar Falls, LeAnne Dreier (Jim) of Iowa City, and brothers Doren, Karl (Jalane), and Wayne Schmidt of Grand Rapids, Mich., and Jerry Schmidt (Sue) of Monterey, Calif.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Robert Schmidt and Virginia (Morris) Schmidt, of Rockford, Mich.
We would like to thank the nursing staff at Solon Care Center who showed kindness, patience and love to Jim and our family over many years.
Online condolences may be expressed to the family at www.broshchapel.com