Obituary of James M. Kelly PhD’75
James Michael “Jim” Kelly PhD’75 (economic geology with a chemistry minor) died September 5, 2023, at his custom-built retirement home outside Bellingham, Washington.
Jim’s childhood prepared him for a life on the move: he was born Sept. 4, 1941, in Bishop, CA, of Armand and Bernice Kelly, while his father taught at remote Deep Springs College. From 1943, Armand was a chemist on the Manhattan Project, and Jim grew up in Los Alamos, NM.
An early interest in geology was inspired by his father’s profession, and by the environs of Los Alamos. Degrees followed from the University of Colorado in Boulder (BA in geology, 1964 and MS in geology, 1967). While in Boulder, he married Susan “Sue” Nielsen in 1966.
Jim enrolled at Madison in 1967, and earned his PhD in economic geology with chemistry minor, with a dissertation titled “Geology, wall rock alteration, and contact metamorphism associated with massive sulfide mineralization at the Amulet Mine, Noranda District, Quebec.”
He then joined Getty Minerals in Salt Lake City, and developed a results-oriented philosophy that propelled him eventually to leadership of Getty’s entire U.S. metals exploration program. In the early 1980s, he was recruited to the vice presidency of Atlas Minerals in Denver, overseeing exploration efforts which yielded the gold discovery at Grassy Mountain, Oregon. Later, he was senior vice president for Viceroy Resources, which explored worldwide and also redeveloped the historic Castle Mountain gold mine in southeastern California.
Jim moved to Washington state in 1999, eventually retiring there. In 2005 he married Linda Savage, who survives him. He is also survived by his first wife, Susan, and his son, Tyler. His daughter Erica predeceased him in 1995
Jim Kelly combined academic excellence with a healthy zest for life. He is remembered by his contemporaries for his boldly positive outlook toward both his profession and his surroundings.
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