Jim Caughran (1940-2024)
Aug. 31st, 2024 04:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
violsvaJames Gilbert Caughran died from congestive heart failure on August 6th, 2024, aged 83. He is survived by his wife (my stepmother), his two sisters, his four children (including me), and his two grandchildren.
Jim was born in Tacoma, Washington and spent most of his childhood living in Lincoln, Nebraska. His family's temporary move to Pakistan when he was a teenager helped foster an interest in other cultures and gave him an international outlook early in life. He completed his last year of high school on a correspondence course and also became involved in science fiction zine fandom at this time.
He was a longtime science fiction fan, a member of Offtrails Magazine Publishers Association, Corflu, the Cult, and the Fantasy Amateur Press Association, and the first editor and webmaster of Fancyclopedia 3. He published the fanzines Erratic, A L'Abandon, and A Propos de Rien, among others.
He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of California-Berkeley and received his PhD. in Mathematics from the University of Michigan in 1967. After starting his working life as a university math professor, he immigrated to Canada in the early 1970s, and worked for more than three decades as a computer systems analyst.
Jim was active in the Toronto Monthly Meeting (TMM) of the Religious Society of Friends, and was one of the founders of a Quaker men's group at Friends General Conference in 1987, which is still meeting regularly. He served on many TMM committees over the years.
Jim was a kind, giving, philosophical man with a wide range of interests including handball, sailing, cross-country skiing, Scrabble, computer programming, and more. He kept many pets over the course of his life. In his later years he travelled widely, enjoyed classical music and opera, and was an avid reader of detective fiction and anything related to science, particularly cosmology. He instilled a love of learning, a keen wit, and an appreciation for social justice in all of his children. He is deeply missed.
If you knew Jim Caughran, in fandom or otherwise, please feel free to contact me at vicaughran at gmail.
Jim was born in Tacoma, Washington and spent most of his childhood living in Lincoln, Nebraska. His family's temporary move to Pakistan when he was a teenager helped foster an interest in other cultures and gave him an international outlook early in life. He completed his last year of high school on a correspondence course and also became involved in science fiction zine fandom at this time.
He was a longtime science fiction fan, a member of Offtrails Magazine Publishers Association, Corflu, the Cult, and the Fantasy Amateur Press Association, and the first editor and webmaster of Fancyclopedia 3. He published the fanzines Erratic, A L'Abandon, and A Propos de Rien, among others.
He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of California-Berkeley and received his PhD. in Mathematics from the University of Michigan in 1967. After starting his working life as a university math professor, he immigrated to Canada in the early 1970s, and worked for more than three decades as a computer systems analyst.
Jim was active in the Toronto Monthly Meeting (TMM) of the Religious Society of Friends, and was one of the founders of a Quaker men's group at Friends General Conference in 1987, which is still meeting regularly. He served on many TMM committees over the years.
Jim was a kind, giving, philosophical man with a wide range of interests including handball, sailing, cross-country skiing, Scrabble, computer programming, and more. He kept many pets over the course of his life. In his later years he travelled widely, enjoyed classical music and opera, and was an avid reader of detective fiction and anything related to science, particularly cosmology. He instilled a love of learning, a keen wit, and an appreciation for social justice in all of his children. He is deeply missed.
If you knew Jim Caughran, in fandom or otherwise, please feel free to contact me at vicaughran at gmail.
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