Jim’s given name was bestowed upon him by his father -a WWII veteran. He is named after James Bryant, his father’s friend and comrade-in-arms, of Burlington, North Carolina whom was killed during the D-day invasion in France in 1944.
Before there was a World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, there was Radio Row. It was a technical magnet for electronic hobbyists. Jim acquired an early interest in technology and began assembling short wave radio kits in the late 1950’s. He can vividly recall perusing the shops of Radio Row in New York City seeking the thrills of component shopping and looking for the latest in manufactured receivers and transmitters. He held no thought then that 40 years later he would be part of a colossal tragedy in that exact location.
Jim graduated high school in 1964 he went to work as an input/output clerk working with IBM’s first fully transistorized model 1401 computer. Jim would manually sort and prepare trays of tabulating cards to be run as production programs.
Jim enlisted in the United States Marine Corp in 1965 where he received formal training in electronics theory and in the repair of communications equipment. He was sent to South Vietnam where for 13 months he performed his assigned duties.
Upon entering the private sector Jim joined Univac(later renamed Unisys) where he repaired large scale mainframe computers for eleven years.
Jim stayed in the computer field but shifted his profession to computer security where he has been working for the past 20+ years. When the clock struck midnight on December 31st, 1999 Jim was in the
South Tower of Univac 1108 Mainframe Class- Illion, NY - 1970
the World Trade Center monitoring security systems integrity for the Year 2000 project.
Adversity is not something you desire or avoid. They are cicumstances that you have stumbled upon simply walking on life's path. Jim’s path was shaped by many events and highlighted by being in the World Trade Center on 9/11 when a commercial jumbo jet crashed into his building. When Jim stands in front of an audience his words provide a bridge to everyone’s past, present and future. He leaves the audience with an upbeat and life advancing message.