James (“Jim”) Batt died peacefully in his home in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday, December 28. He was 91. Jim was born in Hastings, Nebraska on February 28, 1933, and is survived by his beloved wife of nearly 70 years, Dorothy (Ralston) Batt, his son David Batt of Stoughton (wife Sue) and by his daughter Susan (Batt) Racine of the Town of Middleton.

Jim retired in 1995 after more than ten years with the Educational Communications Board (ECB), where he served as director of public information and assistant to the executive director. (The ECB is the state agency which operates Wisconsin Public Radio and Television and other telecommunication services.) Prior to his appointment to the ECB, he served for ten years as the executive director of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Art and Letters.

Before joining the Academy, Jim was the assistant director for academic program planning for the state’s Coordinating Council for Higher Education, on leave from his position as director of public information and assistant to the chancellor of the then University of Wisconsin Center (14 two-year campuses of the University). Other professional experience included time as a journalism instructor and director of public relations at the University of Dubuque; as a consultant developing long-range plans for colleges and universities, and as the director of development Barat College in Lake Forest, IL. He served in the Army during 1953-55 in Verdun, France.

Jim graduated cum laude from Hastings College in Nebraska, with a double major in speech and education. He did master’s degree work in public relations and communications at Boston University where he was a teaching fellow and then came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for Ph.D. studies in mass communications research and higher education administration. During this period, he was also a social science writer for the UW News Service.

Past community service includes a term as chairman of the Wisconsin Humanities Committee (now Council), member of the Wisconsin American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, member of the Edgewood College Board of Trustees, vice chairman of the Wisconsin Arts Council, president of the national Association of Academies of Science, and board member of the Council for Wisconsin Writers. He was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was a founding board member of the International Crane Foundation.

Jim was a member of the Madison Literary Club. His biography appeared in “Who’s Who in America”. While with the Wisconsin Academy, Jim hosted a weekly Wisconsin Public Radio program exploring Wisconsin history and culture. More recently he served on the board of the West Madison Senior Coalition and was active in SAIL (Support for Active Independent Living).

An avid outdoorsman, Jim grew up hunting and fishing in Nebraska and continued his passion in Wisconsin happily exploring the state’s fields, streams and lakes. He was a prodigious writer of short stories and poetry and successfully took up ceramics and painting. His work was recently featured in a dedicated showing at the Oakwood West Art Gallery.

Jim is now part of all that was so much a part of him. He is in the light and waves that dance upon the trout streams, the wind that rustles through the prairie grass, the snow that soughs through the needled pines, the strength of the eagle’s wings that stretch across the sky. For Jim is now free.

The family thanks and recognizes the wonderful team at Oakwood Village Hebron and dad’s beloved physician Dr. James Haine. In lieu of flowers, please consider enjoying the beautiful parks of Wisconsin or donating to the Nature Conservancy. No services are scheduled; the family will hold a private celebration.

To view and sign this guestbook, please visit: www.ryanfuneralservice.com

Ryan Funeral Home

5701 Odana Road

608-274-1000

James Batt

February 28, 1933 - December 28, 2024

Share photos of James