James B. Grace Jr. ’64

James B. Grace Jr. ’64, M.D., of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, passed away peacefully on July 13. A lifelong resident of Mississippi, he was recruited away from Ole Miss and Georgia Tech by football coach Bob Blackman. It was a far reach but a fruitful effort by the coach. Jim was named captain of the undefeated freshman team, then was the starting center for the 1962 and 1963 Ivy championship teams. Jim majored in chemistry and was a brother of Beta Theta Pi and a member of Green Key and Sphinx. He was revered at large by his classmates and teammates as a singularly nice person, a descriptor that applied to his professional life as well. Jim was ever the hard worker—from his first job as a pre-teen at the local grocery to his college summers working on an oil rig. While working on the new interstate near Jackson, Mississippi, just before entering Ole Miss medical school, Jim and a buddy double dated. At some point the friends switched dates, after which Jim was never separated from the love of his life, Beverly Pippin. Jim was commissioned in the Navy for an ear, nose, and throat residency at Bethesda Naval Hospital, followed by duty in Dahlgren, Virginia, before he established a private practice in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, in 1977, making house calls and volunteering at Bethesda Free Clinic. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, son Jim, daughters Petey and Cassie, and five grandchildren.