James Bruce McAdams

James Bruce McAdams, 73, a Concord Twp resident since 1983, passed away at home on January 3, 2022, surrounded by his family. 

Jim was born November 9, 1948 in Jersey City NJ, the first child of Bruce and Dorothy (Schroeder) McAdams. He lived in North Arlington NJ and Pompton Plains NJ as a child.

Jim graduated from Don Bosch Technical High School in Paterson NJ in 1967 where he said he received the technical foundation that served him well all of his life.

Jim joined the US Army (Regular Army) in 1968 and served in Germany and Vietnam. In Vietnam, he received a Bronze Star for his actions in combat. Upon his Honorable Discharge, he attended Milwaukee School of Engineering in Milwaukee, WI and graduated in 3 years with a BS EE. He was employed by Allen Bradley Corporation in Highland Hts., OH in various engineering positions including applications engineer and managing engineer. As an Allen Bradley employee, he lived in the Cleveland area, Düsseldorf Germany and Kobe Japan. When Allen Bradley was purchased by Rockwell Automation, Jim continued employment until his retirement in October 2008. In 1984, he joined the Concord Fire Department and was a fire fighter/paramedic until 1998. After his retirement from Allen Bradley, he volunteered as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for the Geauga County Juvenile Court starting in 2010. When his health prevented him from performing field work, he did research for the CASA office until his death. He served 11 families and 25 children during those years.

Jim enjoyed amateur (ham) radio as KF8VX starting in 1991. He loved backpacking in the mountains of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. He also had a great time riding his 1984 Honda Magna V45 for many years.

He married the former Cathie Vargo in February 20, 1993 and adopted her son, Gregory, in 1995.

Jim was preceded in death by his son, Michael McAdams, his parents, and his brother Brian McAdams.

He will be fondly remembered by his wife, Cathie; his son, Gregory (Maria); grandchildren Darius and Sephie Ruffner; and his grandchildren in the Columbus area, Sydney, Alex, Julia, Celia, Larissa and Graham. He also leaves his brothers, Robert (MaryAnn) McAdams of Barnegat NJ, Kevin McAdams of Ridgewood NY and Christopher McAdams of Randolph NJ. He leaves many nieces and nephews. He also leaves pups, Daisy, Happy and Blondie.

The memorial gathering will occur  Saturday, January 15, 2022, from 10am until noon at Spear Mulqueeny Funeral Home, 667 Mentor Avenue, Painesville. The service will begin promptly at noon. Jim’s ashes will be spread at the McAdams Family Cemetery in Easley, South Carolina at a later date.

n lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to either of two charities, Hearts and Hands of CASA (https://www.heartsandhandsofcasa.org/ ) which provides extra services to children served by the Geauga County CASA program, or Parrot Hope Bird Rescue (11195 Bowen Rd, Mantua OH 44295 (parrothope.com).

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