Obituary of James M. Kortright

87, died peacefully on 31 December 2014 at the Samarkand retirement community health center in Santa Barbara from complications of a stroke. Jim was born on 3 April 1927 in Huntington, NY to Warren P. Kortright, MD, and Sarah Funnell between sisters Cynthia K. Fowler of Springfield, OH and the late Ann K. Banerji of Woodbridge, CT. Their mother died when Jim was 13. Valedictorian at Huntington High School in 1944, he then enrolled in Cornell University. He left college briefly for the Army and the reconstruction of Germany. Back at Cornell he studied chemical engineering and physics before working for Shell in Corpus Christi, TX. In 1950 Jim enrolled in graduate school in physics at Purdue University. He met and became engaged to Mary Jane Barrett who was studying at nearby DePauw University. They were married in 1952 in her hometown of Streator, IL and settled in Alpena, MI where Jim taught high school and Peter Funnell Kortright was born in July 1954. Following a brief stay in Ft. Wayne, IN, Jim moved his young family back to Lafayette, IN to complete doctoral studies at Purdue. Jeffrey Barrett Kortright was born in November 1956. Following a college teaching career that included four years at Temple University in Philadelphia and six at the Rose Polytechnic Institute in Terre Haute, IN, Jim changed careers and moved his family to Orange, CA in 1972 to complete training in medical physics at the UCI medical center. He worked in medical physics at UCI, for the county of Orange, and as a consultant serving the greater Los Angeles area until his retirement in 1998. After losing beloved MJ in a long battle to cancer in January 1988, Jim married Rosemary Tinne in Orange in July of that year and opened his home and family to her four daughters. Over the past 26 years Jim and Rose traveled extensively, eventually settling in Santa Barbara where they have enjoyed the families of their children and given of themselves to numerous civic and spiritual causes. An avid reader, adventurer, and life-long learner, Jim also passed on a love of sailing to his sons, and has enjoyed music, art, writing, volunteering, and many friendships at Samarkand and throughout his life. Jim is survived by wife Rose, sister Cynthia, sons Peter of Middletown, RI and Jeffrey of Orinda, CA, grandsons Andrew and Benjamin in Massachusetts, and granddaughters Kaitlyn and Kelly in California. He is much loved by Rose's daughters Nicola Tinne of London, UK, Charlotte Laurain of Los Alamitos, Joanna Shiefelbein of Huntington Beach, Susan Higgins of Orange and their families. A memorial service will celebrate Jim's life at Samarkand, with a similar event expected near the Atlantic coast at a later date.