Jim Meyer, z”l, passed away on Shabbat, Oct. 23, 2021, at 85. Jim is loved and remembered by his wife, Lora; children, Mark & Marcia Meyer (Portland), Tom & Shawn Fields-Meyer (Los Angeles) and Richard & Erika Meyer (Portland); his brother, Les (Marie Dalton-Meyer) Meyer (Burlington, Vt.); grandchildren, Shana and Alex, Ami, Ezra and Noam, and Avi, Dalya and Orly; and many nieces and nephews.

Jim was an exemplary leader of both the Jewish and wider communities in Portland and Oregon. He was active in the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland since1966, serving as board chair 1970-72; campaign chair 1988-89; treasurer 2018-21; and in multiple roles over the years. He was a founding board member of the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation, and served as its second board president. He also served on the board Congregation Neveh Shalom. Over decades, Jim also served on multiple state and city boards and on general community boards, including Oregon Community Foundation.

A Memorial Service was held Oct. 25 in the main sanctuary of Congregation Neveh Shalom, with a private interment.

At the service, his son Rich quoted a former aide to an Oregon governor, who said, “Jim always stood out as the best model of Oregon citizenship – a busy individual who gave generously of their time to advance the public interest.” Rich added, “That was Dad.”

He was even more committed to his family, Rich said: “He made it a priority to show up for all our events. If it was important in our lives, it was important for him to be there.”

Son Tom recalled the last time the extended family was all together for what it calls a “MeyerFest,” at Thanksgiving two years ago. Jim shared a list he had written in response to a sermon in which Rabbi Daniel Isaak had asked congregants to consider what they’d do if they won the lottery. The list was of ways “Dad felt he had won the lottery": being born into the freedom of America, his loving parents Larry and Ruth, his education at Harvard and Harvard Business School, the blind date that turned out to be Lora….”

After graduate school, Jim and Lora moved to Portland from Boston in 1960 , expecting to stay in the west “for a year or two,”he often said. In 1961, he got an unusual opportunity to acquire an old-line industrial distribution business, Goodyear Rubber & Supply Co. He managed that business until he sold it in 1983. After that, Jim was an investor in Portland small businesses and real estate.

(To access an oral history interview with Jim Meyer held at the Oregon Jewish Museum & Center for Holocaust Education, contact archivist Alisha Babbstein, ababbstein@ojmche.org)