Nix, James was born in Ingraham, Illinois in 1918. He graduated from Montebello High School in 1935 and completed his B.S. in Business Administration from UCLA in 1939. For three years, James worked for the US Rubber Plant in Los Angeles until he was drafted into the US Army and served for three years. He was stationed in Oregon and was deployed in 1944 to Oran, Algeria, as well as Italy. He served in 3 campaigns: Rome-Arno, North Apennines Mountains and Po Valley. He then completed 3 months of occupation duty in Trieste after the war. He spent 34 years working in customer relations with the Pacific Telephone Company and retired in 1980. Soon after, he moved to Orange County. He traveled extensively with trips to Europe, Asia, Mexico, Caribbean, Hawaii, Alaska, Egypt and Israel.

James was a Primary Donor of The Nix Nature Center at Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and The Nix Garden at Anderson Graduate Business School at UCLA. He was also an active participant at Florence Sylvester Senior Center.

James was preceded in death by his son, Paul Nix and is survived by his wife of 70 years, Rosemarie; daughter Elaine and her husband Richard; his 4 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren.

There will be a private celebration of his life at The Nix Nature Center in Laguna Beach. In lieu of flowers, his family has kindly requested that donations may be made in Jim's name to the Florence Sylvester Senior Center in Laguna Hills.