Jim Dunne, educator, journalist, marathoner and former mayor of Pullman, died in Eugene on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, from natural causes. He was 96.
Jim was born Nov. 30, 1924, in NYC to immigrant parents Eva Constance Rutledge and John James Dunne. He was educated in Catholic schools and enlisted in the Army at 17. Jim joined the 10th Mountain Division as a skiing infantryman in the Italian Alps during World War II. After V-E Day, he joined the Ninth Amphibian Task Force in the North Pacific, and participated in the assault on the Japanese-held island of Kiska. While stationed in Japan at the end of the war, he reported news and sports for the Armed Forces Radio Network, an experience that influenced his decision to pursue a career in broadcasting.
Honorably discharged in 1945, Jim studied at Compton Junior College, Calif., earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Southern California (1951) and a master’s in media education from Chico State (1966). Jim taught history and government in California public schools, then reported news for Chico and Redding radio stations and the San Jose Mercury News. He served as TV news anchor for the ABC affiliate in San Jose. He worked in the broadcast press pool covering presidential candidates Eisenhower, Stevenson, Kennedy, Nixon, Goldwater and Johnson. The California Associated Press awarded Jim a first-place award for his broadcast documentary, “They’re People Too,” about the neglect and warehousing of people with mental illness. From 1963-66 he taught broadcast journalism and coached media students at San Jose State. One of his student crews earned an award at Cannes Film Festival for its film on skydiving as an emerging sport.
Jim moved to Pullman in 1966 to serve as assistant professor of journalism and director of news and sports reporting at Washington State University (1966-77). He worked part time as a grocery clerk and local elected official, serving on the Pullman City Council, then as mayor (1972-76). Karen Kiessling, who succeeded Jim in that role, fondly remembers their reunion when Jim returned to Pullman in the fall of 2000 for the dedication of the Mayors’ Grove to launch the Grand Avenue Greenway project. They maintained contact, often reminiscing about the privilege of public service and the pleasures of living on the Palouse. According to Jim’s longtime friend and faculty colleague, Gary Bryan, Jim was an early adopter of the distance running movement and pivotal in popularizing it here. As a mayor with a journalist’s knack for a headline, Jim ran the anchor leg of a relay from Pullman to Spokane to deliver the key to the city during the World’s Fair of 1974. He ran 12 marathons, with a personal-best time of 2:55.
In 1977, Jim moved to Eugene, Ore., where he chaired the Media Arts Department at Lane Community College, taught courses in mass communication and public relations, and served as general manager of public radio station KLCC. After retiring in 1990, he taught classes in media law at the University of Oregon and history at Marist High School. He adored his many friends, attentive neighbors and former students in Eugene, but never forgot his time in Pullman, and returned several times over recent years to visit.
Jim was a serious student of history, poetry, ethics, constitutional law, film, economics, athletics, leadership, geopolitics and the writer’s craft. He will be remembered as a lifelong learner, avid reader, sports savant, engaging conversationalist, loyal friend, avowed romantic and Sinatra enthusiast. He is survived by his daughter, Dr. Barbara Dunne, of Holyoke, Mass.; and his brother and sister-in-law, Paul and Wendy Dunne, of Sacramento, Calif. No service is planned, but friends are invited to honor Jim’s full, rich, eventful life with an easy run, a raised glass, a gifted book, or contribution to a worthy cause.
