Obituary of James Edward Young

James Edward Young, Jr. of Iowa City died Saturday, August 9, 2008, at the Iowa City Rehabilitation and Care Center after a long illness. He was 77. He was born in Evansville, Indiana, the only child of James Edward Young, Sr. and Sue (Bell) Young. A graduate of the University of Indiana in Bloomington, Mr. Young was among the first to receive a degree in the new field of broadcast journalism. He was a sportscaster for the champion IU Hoosiers Basketball Team during his years at university and worked as a disc jockey and radio announcer for WGRC in Louisville, Kentucky. He met his wife, Jane Koval, while both were students and they wed in Bloomington. A Captain in the U.S. Army, Mr. Young served with the Fighting 69th Infantry Division at Fort Shafter in Hawaii, before it was a state, and a served a second tour of duty at Fort Chaffee in Arkansas in the 1960s. Following his career in radio, Mr. Young was a marketing and sales executive for Thomas Industries and its subsidiary Phil-Mar Corp., based at various times in his business career in Louisville, Chicago, Cleveland and, for many years, in New York City. In the late 1980s he created his own company, Park Lane Associates, which sold lighting to hotels, conference centers and other venues. He moved with his family to Westport, Connecticut in 1972 and lived there until he retired to Iowa City in 2001. Although a successful businessman, Mr. Young was mostly noted for his varied interests and projects. He was a founding member of a Westport social group, called The Turkeys, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. After he took up running he successfully completed two New York City Marathons. On his 50th birthday he rafted down the Grand Canyon’s Colorado River and a few years later was part of an expedition to the North Pole. He wrote about his trip for The Washington Post travel section and was featured in a documentary on the Pole that aired on The Discovery Channel. Mr. Young also traveled widely throughout the United States, Europe, China, the Middle East and Central America. He enjoyed hiking as well as running. Mr. Young had a long-standing interest in Colonial American history and collected historic documents that bore the signatures of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence as well as other Revolutionary War figures. He managed to collect all but six of the 56 signers and generously allowed his extensive collection to be displayed by the Westport Historical Society. Mr. Young is the father of University of Iowa chemistry professor Dr. Mark Young and the father-in-law of UI chemistry professor Dr. Vicki Grassian. In addition to his wife, son and daughter-in-law, all of Iowa City, Mr. Young is survived by daughter Gayle Young of Washington D.C. and three granddaughters; Alexandra and Samantha of Iowa City and Jenna of Washington D.C.; brothers-in-law Charles Koval of Decatur, IL and David Koval of Marco Island, FL; cousins Patricia Gwaltney, Gerri (Kenny) Miles and Barbara Barlow, all of Evansville, IN and many friends. Services will be at the Alexander Funeral Home in his hometown of Evansville. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the St. Patrick’s rebuilding fund in Iowa City. Online condolences may be sent for his family through the web @ www.gayandciha.com. Local arrangements were handled through Gay & Ciha Funeral Service in Iowa City.