Tribute

We are heartbroken to announce that Jim has passed away after a brief struggle with pancreatic cancer.

Jim was born in Chicago on January 5, 1947 to Jim and Elaine Fogarty. He had two sisters and a large extended family with many cousins. He attended Wabash College where he served as editor of the school newspaper.

Jim and Noni first met as friends in California in the 1970s. Jim headed north to British Columbia where Noni later came to visit him and they fell in love. Over the next decade, they spent time exploring BC, making maple syrup in Minnesota, and living in North Vancouver. Every Spring, Jim would return to Chicago to work the tax season in his father’s accounting firm. It was an old friend who urged them to check out Salt Spring Island, and once they did, they knew this was home.

Details like how to find a house and a job never bothered Jim. He and Noni settled in the south end of Salt Spring, had four kids, grew veggies, and figured out ways to make a living. Jim cut firewood, trucked fruit from the Okanagan, sold food and tax returns at the market in Ganges, and tuned and rebuilt pianos. Eventually he and Noni developed their tax and accounting business. But, for Jim, it was always about family. They made a point of working part time so that they could devote more time to family activities – gardening, swimming, hiking, biking, and spending time with the other families in the neighborhood.

Jim put his heart into every endeavor on Salt Spring. His business was an outgrowth of his family values. Many clients knew him as a friend and he gave every client his personal attention, loyalty, and care. He spent years volunteering with local organizations and community initiatives. He loved sailing and valued every opportunity to crew on his friends’ boats. He also loved trains, regularly riding Amtrak across the US to visit family and once, taking his elderly father across Canada on VIA Rail. Choral singing was always a joy, from touring Europe with his college glee club to singing with Salt Spring’s Bach on the Rock. His favourite musical activity was his garage band on Reynolds Road, where he played piano, Fender Rhodes, or steel guitar, and sang blues and rock ‘n roll.

Jim was curious, skilled, intelligent, kind, and endlessly generous. He will be sorely missed by many. He leaves behind in great sorrow his best friend and companion, Noni, his children Jessy (Scott), Ryan (Shannon), Dan (Yvonne), and Simon (Lyndsey), his grandchildren Sean, Liam and Lucy, his sister Melissa “Missy,” Noni’s sister Lisa and her husband Charley, Noni’s brother Steve and his wife Jeanne, and many other extended family members and close friends.

The family extends its heartfelt gratitude to the community for all of its love and support.