Nov. 21, 1934 — July 5, 2025
Jim Fritz, who passed on July 5, spent almost 70 of his 90 years devoted to discovery in the realm of human potential. Throughout his life’s work as a schoolteacher, workshop leader, then personal coach and business consultant, Jim was pushing the boundaries of unconventional inquiry into why we do what we do and how to make better choices.
James Laurence “Jim” Fritz was born Nov. 21, 1934, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to John Albert Fritz, a young German immigrant from Saratov, Russia, and Alice Cook, whose U.S. heritage dates back to the Revolutionary War. Both parents were expert musicians and schoolteachers in the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Jim, his elder sister Joan, who died at 13, and younger brother Jerrold, were raised in the faith, and the boys attended Wisconsin Academy.
Upon graduation, the family moved to Claremont, California, where Jim briefly attended La Sierra College while helping to build his parents’ new home. In the spring of 1953 he joined the Army for the Korean War. He served most of his two years as a dental lab technician.
While in uniform, he met his first wife, Lois Drake, with whom he had two daughters: Suzan, who died in 2020, and Sandra. For the duration of their 14-year marriage Jim and Lois were schoolteachers, first within Adventism, then at public schools.
A posting to Grassy Plains in northern British Columbia meant rough conditions in arctic weather, so the family moved back to California for Jim to finish college at California State University, Chico. Intellectual curiosity had simmered for years; studying psychology and history for his degree in education put an end to Jim’s church-based sensibilities.
As a public school teacher, Jim took jobs in the Redding, California, area and East San Jose. His students were middle schoolers. He taught American history, art and math.
Jim could draw and paint since age 13, when he sold his first picture — which, of course, was a car. Automobiles were a lifelong passion; Jim collected several classics. Equally devoted to music, Jim played the trumpet, trombone and especially piano all his life. He was also an expert skier, spraying snow until age 80.
In 1969 he founded the East San Jose chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. But politics, bureaucracy, and burnout were taking their toll on Jim’s yearning for discovery. So, after the end of his marriage, Jim quit teaching and headed to Europe for months of backpacking adventure. Returning to the States, he committed to his girlfriend Delores Pravacek, and the couple moved to Colorado. There, Jim dove headlong into a self-help hypnosis technique called the Silva Method. He grew into one of Silva’s top workshop earners.
Throughout the next quarter century, Jim developed management training and personal coaching techniques for three of his own start-up companies. He did the same for the consulting firm Bernard Haldane, where he became vice president of seminar training. Problem-solving techniques emerged as he developed the business Applied Creative Thinking. He later devised the “Options” Career Management Strategy Program for the executive recruitment firm d’Aires Company, co-founded with his partner Delores.
Jim enjoyed leading numerous civic organizations. He became president of the Shasta Light Opera Company, the Rocky Mountain Writers Guild and a Denver-area Optimist International club. He became regional vice president for the Mercedes-Benz Clubs of America.
In the mid-1990s, Jim became captivated by the spiritual side of personal development, particularly the work of Gary Zukav, Barbara Marx Hubbard and Neale Donald Walsch. After moving to Talent in 2000, Jim partnered with fellow life coach Paul Clark in 2002 to create CWG Coaching under the banner of Walsch’s Conversations With God Foundation. Until early 2008, Jim and Paul mentored individuals and CWG Coaches from 22 countries, more than 1,000 people. After the CWG partnership, Jim returned to private clients, retiring in 2009.
In July 2012, he met the love of his life, Jeannine Grizzard, artistic director of Ashland Contemporary Theatre. Jim lent his moral support to the theater, and Jeannine helped him with a short autobiography for his family, which concludes with a distillation of Jim’s coaching advice: 1) Know thyself, 2) To thine own self be true, and 3) “Be good to yourself” — Jim’s phrase for “goodbye.”
Jim Fritz is survived by his daughter Sandra Fritz, M.D., and her children, Patrick and Kelsey; his grandson Stephan Cason and his five children; and his spouse of 13 years, Jeannine.
A memorial service will take place in the garden of their home on Roca Street in Ashland at midday Saturday, Oct. 4. Visit JimFritz.net for details and exact time updates.
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