Concluding far too soon a life of intellectual curiosity, extensive travel and abundant love, Jim Stork, 68, died of the effects of brain cancer on June 28 at his home for the past decade in Ajijic.
In boyhood, Stork lived where his serviceman father was posted, including postwar Germany and France, where he formed his love of traveling. A full scholarship allowed him to attend Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he received a BA in physics. After two years in the U.S. Army, Stork achieved a PhD in physical oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.
After teaching at Humboldt State University, Stork ran his own business writing programs for early digital typesetting equipment. He joined his life partner, Margaret (Mags) Petela, in San Francisco in 1985, and for the next two decades managed tech docs for several Bay Area companies. In 1988 Jim and Mags moved to Berkeley, and in 2005 they retired to Mexico to pursue artistic and intellectual interests and travel together.
Stork was an accomplished photographer but also a man of endless talents who generously shared his wide-ranging skills and knowledge with anyone who asked, in topics from the hard sciences, practical and fine arts, politics, human relations, philosophy, computers and much more. At 6-feet 6-inches, bearded, and with an enviable shock of full, white, wavy hair, he stood above most others not only physically but as a man of great intellect, generous spirit, and an open and loving heart.
A remembrance gathering will take place later in the year. Those who knew Stork can honor his life by living theirs as he did, with enthusiasm, generosity, ethical principles and boundless love. He is survived by Mags, his brother, Joseph Stork (and wife Marlene), two nieces, and countless friends and admirers.