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In Memory

James Louis Kubiak - Class Of 1956 VIEW PROFILE

James Louis Kubiak

 

KUBIAK, James Louis Passed away on January 3, 2021, at the age of 81, in the company of loving family. Jim was survived by his loving wife of 61 years, Mary Jo “Jody” (Glick) Kubiak to whom he was wed on August 6, 1960; his siblings, Sharon (Kubiak) Nyberg, Mary Jo Kubiak, and Carl E. Kubiak: his four children, Alana (Jim) (Kubiak) Fermoyle, David C. Kubiak, Cathy (Kubiak) Johnson and Sara (Jeff) (Kubiak) Blanch. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Noelani Therena Blanch, Kyle James Kubiak, Alyssa Grace Johnson, Amanda Siobhan Kubiak, and Ryan Marshall Johnson.

Jim was born in South Bend, IN and was the elder son of Louis A. Kubiak and Mary Ellen Larkin.

He received his primary education at St. Joseph Elementary School on Hill Street in South Bend.  He graduated from John Adams High School in 1956.  John H. McNamara, Washington High School principal, former John Adams High School faculty alumnus (1940-49), and professional colleague of John Adams High School principal, Russell Rothermel, remembered that Jim had had the highest I.Q. of any John Adams student when he matriculated at John Adams in 1952.

Jim graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor’s degree in Arts and Letters in 1960, before going to work for IBM in Fort Wayne, IN until 1967 before relocating to Birmingham, MI. In 1968 he began working for Memorex Corp. until 1971 when left Memorex and began a 22-year career in IT consulting with Haskins & Sells in Minneapolis, MN, which had several mergers and spin offs, ending his time there at Coopers & Lybrand, one of the spin offs.  In 1992 Jim left Coopers and went to CSC Consulting Group, where he was Operations Manager until 2001. Jim was admired for and enjoyed working on the women’s mentoring program aligned with the IT profession helping women advance their careers on pace with men in the field. In 2001 Jim and a few colleagues founded an IT consulting firm, Javelin, LLC.  Jim retired in 2003 at the age of 64.  After retirement legal counsel in a few court cases called on him as an expert witness in IT, which he found to be both challenging and enjoyable. 

Jody and Jim lived 40 years in New Hope, MN (a suburb of Minneapolis) where they raised their four children, opened their home to other young people in need of stability and hosted a foreign exchange student most of whom became a permanent part of the extended family. Jim & Jody owned a vacation home on Lake Superior in Two Harbors, MN where they could gather and enjoy time away from the city, rock hounding, taking day trips and photos, cooking, and enjoying time together with family and friends. There were also several European vacations and cruises to exotic locations. Jim always remembered fondly his trip taken with his mother to Ireland along with Jody and his sisters.                                                                                                                              

Jim and Jody retired to Hudson, WI just on the other side of the St. Croix River from the Twin Cities. They loved watching the boats on the river, the hot air balloons above and driving on the county roads with the top down. Jim was a life long avid reader, enjoyed cooking, genealogy, gardening and dedicated many hours to his passion working on fundraising and campaigning for local political candidates that he felt were an important part of the political spectrum.

He is missed and remembered by all those whose lives he touched.



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