Jim’s research focused on transport of contaminants in the environment, especially fate and transport of organic compounds, trace metals, radionuclides, and pathogenic organisms in groundwater, estuaries, and surface and subsurface soils. His former colleague Kent Udell noted, “Jim was a true scholar. He enjoyed the science and had a good sense of fruitful research directions. His work on identifying contaminant deposition histories from isotope distributions in the SF Bay off Alameda Island was brilliant. And he inspired his graduate students to conduct research at the highest level.”