Jim Underwood, our beloved friend and colleague, died on Sunday February 25, 2007 of pancreatic cancer. The cancer was detected only a few months ago, and Jim made an extraordinary transition to his changed circumstances, inspiring all of us with his courage, his concern for others, his determination to tie up the loose ends of his life, his spiritual aspiration to approach his death fully, and his wish to leave his family and friends with nothing left unsaid and no love left unexpressed.

Jim joined The Mountain Institute at its inception and remained active until the week he died. He was a walking archive, bringing his institutional memory to bear as secretary of the Board of Trustees for many years.  He designed and built the structure at the heart of our organization, the Spruce Knob Mountain Center, and he was the designer of TMI’s Compressed Earth Block machine, which is making a difference in people’s lives by providing housing and employment around the world. He was a modest, principled, action-oriented, hands-on craftsman, gardener, mountaineer, blacksmith and builder, who was never without several projects underway at the same time. The entire international staff of TMI wishes to express our gratitude to Jim for his tremendous contribution to our organization.

The Chairman of the Board, Joe Teplitz, recently wrote:
“I've had less time knowing Jim than most of you - just the eight years or so that I've been part of TMI, but in that time he became one of the most inspirational people I've met in my lifetime. Jim lived, and died, on his own terms - always with almost all of his energy focused outward... Jim was resourceful, focused, confident, intelligent, and caring. I learned a lot from Jim [but] never as much as I learned from him in the past few weeks... I, like the rest of you, will miss Jim's understated ability to hit the nail on the head but I, like the rest of you, will always see Jim in what surrounds us all. He's gone, but he'll always be here.”

A service will be held on Saturday, June 23rd, 2007, at Spruce Knob. All are most welcome.