James Garin

James Patrick Garin, age 74, passed away at his home in DeForest, WI on October 3, 2024. James “Jim” was born in Janesville, WI on September 10, 1950 to parents Thomas and Eveline (Lunn) Garin. Jim served within COMSEC (Communications Security) in the United States Army during the Vietnam War and in college received the Air Force ROTC Commandant’s Award. During his career as a manufacturing finishing engineer, Jim worked for Trek Bicycle in its early years of growth, as well as Kawneer and Haworth. Jim became a certified NAUI scuba instructor on June 21, 1975 in San Diego, CA during which time the program was modeled after Navy Seal training. He taught scuba and led dive excursions in Panama and Central America, where he also gained jungle survival skills, and he later became a part-time dive instructor for a business in Albany, GA. He was an avid runner and cyclist and he enjoyed wildlife and photography. Jim witnessed firsthand the 1968 Chicago DNC riots as a newspaper photographer, and his underwater macro photographs of rare sea life appear in the Smithsonian, the Swedish Museum of Natural History, reeflex.net and other fish encyclopedias and applications such as the Lord Howe Fish ID app. He was also engaged by the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga to photograph their sea creatures for promotional materials.

Jim married Cheryl Lynn Machkovitz on July 31, 1981, sharing 43 years of marriage together. In his early years, he was a precocious child who learned drums, kept bees, and became a skilled tennis player (both table and court). Jim had a love for coffee, wine and cooking and was known for his famous 5-chili (or many more varieties) chili made only with fresh, hot peppers. He was accepted into the Atlanta chapter of the Confrérie des Vignerons de Saint Vincent-Mâcon brotherhood in 1989 and later worked part-time as a wine consultant in Chicago. Jim was an innovative and creative thinker, and inquisitive about everything. He loved to learn and especially to share his knowledge with others, and he pursued his interests with great discipline and depth. For example, he’d wanted to be able to play golf with his Dad, so he not only became a low handicap golfer himself (playing many famous courses and achieving a hole-in-one while with his Dad at Turtle Hill in Southampton Bermuda), but he learned to craft his own custom golf clubs. He was a great listener, and a sparkling and charismatic storyteller with a wonderful sense of humor. He could hold an audience for hours with tales of his many amazing adventures. Jim loved history, especially learning new things about history as it’s taught. He had numerous other hobbies throughout his life including gem collecting and alpine climbing which he shared with his wife in travels through Europe, Canada and the US. Jim was a world traveler and the count of countries he visited is not certain but is well over 40 and probably many more. He was very excited to visit Malta and Africa and died the morning he was to fly there.

Despite having catastrophic health events in 2016, with great courage and discipline and daily running and cycling, he became not only self-sufficient but an active and independent contributor to the support of his family and friends, evidence of his internal fortitude and his love of life. He led his life in a principled way and chose to default to an attitude of happiness no matter the circumstance. He will be remembered as a most generous friend, guide, and mentor. Jim is survived by his spouse, Cheryl Garin; children, Diana (Tim) Lammers, and Alex Garin; 4 grandchildren, Dylan Widmer, Nolan Widmer, Logan Widmer, and Layla Lammers.

Memorials may be made to the Wisconsin Bird Protection Fund: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/Wisconservation