The Sierra Club's volunteer leaders are a special group of people - folks whose passion for our planet drives them to devote countless unpaid hours to protecting our environment and all who live in it.
The North Carolina Chapter is fortunate to have a stalwart band of these volunteers, each of whom has made an indelible impact on our work and our company. We are sad to have recently said farewell to one of the most outstanding: Pisgah Group Chair Jim Reynolds, who passed away April 20.
“Jim was always working to make a difference in his community, out his own back door, and around the world," said Marshall McCallie, a fellow Pisgah Group leader. "His leadership as a volunteer Sierran and his commitment to our environment will be sorely missed, as will his warm and engaging personality."
Jim was not just a highly knowledgeable and dedicated leader for the N.C. Sierra Club. He stretched his arms worldwide, blending his gifts as a scientist, educator, travel enthusiast, community leader, and loving friend and father to share his knowledge and passion with hundreds of lifelong learners. Read a remembrance from some of Jim's former students and colleagues in The Clarion, Brevard College's newspaper.
The retired Brevard College professor served in many Sierra Club roles, including as vice chair of the Chapter from 2015-17 and chair of the Pisgah Group off and on until his death. Upon his retirement in 2019, he spoke to the Transylvania Times about his ongoing commitment to protect the environment at a local level, even as he was planning more trips abroad.
"We have started to talk with the city of Brevard about transitioning to all renewable energy … ," Jim said. "[N]ot even in the long run, but in the mid-term run, it will save the city and the taxpayers to transition to renewable energy.."
As vice chair, Jim guided the N.C. Sierra Club in its November 2016 decision to officially voice support for the Standing Rock Sioux as they protested against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
In 2015, Jim received the national Sierra Club's Special Achievement Award for his efforts to convince Brevard College to divest itself from investments in fossil fuels. The award citation noted that Jim was the driving force behind a campaign that began in 2013 to make the school the first college to commit to divesting from fossil fuels in the southeastern United States. Jim helped rally the support and activism of students, faculty and college leadership, and Brevard's Board of Trustees voted on Feb. 13, 2015, to divest by 2018.
"Jim's vision of environmentalism was a perfect example of understanding how action on the local level can have global impact," N.C. Sierra Club State Director Cynthia Satterfield said. "He was incredibly generous with his time, his knowledge, his passion and his friendship. We're going to miss him in many ways, but we'll live by his example as we continue the work of protecting our environment and all who live in it."
Jim's environmental activism was based in his impressive knowledge of natural sciences, as well as a passion for sharing that knowledge. From 1999 to his retirement in 2019, Jim taught all of Brevard's Geology courses. He led students, professionals and interested travelers on many international field trips, including to the Galapagos Islands, where he served a term on the Galapagos Conservancy's board of directors, and as a scientific speaker for the Celebrity cruise line's Smithsonian Journeys.
Jim conducted field research in the Andean Mountains in Argentina for more than 25 years, teaching at Argentinian universities on Fulbright scholarships in 1989 and 2007. Brevard's Student Government Association gave him its “Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year Award” in 2002, 2009 and 2015.
The N.C. Chapter's staff and volunteer leaders join with all Jim's family and many friends to mourn his passing - but also to affectionately remember his joyful presence, to take inspiration from his life lessons, and to share our gratitude for the opportunity to have such an extraordinary friend.