Over 88 years of living, James J. Brady Jr.’s world moved from dockworker waterfronts in New Jersey to Major League Baseball stadiums and locker rooms and the classrooms and libraries of academia.
After that life ended Aug. 18 at his home in Jacksonville, Dr. Brady was remembered locally as the exacting eighth president of Jacksonville University , whose career impacted JU students for more than 15 years.
“Dr. Brady’s legacy at Jacksonville University is one of passion, dedication, and a genuine love for education,” JU President Tim Cost said in a message linked from the homepage of the university website.
The economist who had been nicknamed “Diamond Jim” when he pitched for the Detroit Tigers “believed in the power of education to transform lives,” Cost said, “and his leadership continues to resonate within our community.”
His accomplishments, begun from a point where great success seemed improbable, also left an example his family drew upon.
“None of us were as strong as he was in academics or sports, but we tried,” said Jim Brady, the youngest of Dr. Brady’s three sons.
Born to Irish immigrants, the death of his mother at an early age led to Dr. Brady being raised in Jersey City, N.J., by his longshoreman father, who hadn’t completed eighth grade but insisted his son would get an education.
Dr. Brady attended a Catholic college prep school on scholarship, excelling both in class and on the baseball team, and before graduating he was offered a spot with the Boston Red Sox organization for more than 10 times the wage his father yearly earnings. But his father, who had worked the docks with crews including boxing champion James Braddock (whose difficult life was recounted in the 2005 film Cinderella Man ) refused the offer because he wanted Dr. Brady to attend college and build a different future, leading to the son entering the University of Notre Dame.
Team offers persisted at Notre Dame and Dr. Brady ultimately signed with the Tigers in 1955, winning over his father by promising to return and complete his schooling when his baseball career allowed. Injuries made that career short, his last game in a Tigers uniform happening in 1956, followed by time in minor-league ball.
The experience gave Dr. Brady a special perspective among academics. Interviewing him about his experiences, in 2020 local blogger Dave Scott labeled Dr. Brady “the only university president to pitch to Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays.”
Dr. Brady honored his word to his father and returned to Notre Dame, earning a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1959, a master’s in 1963 and a doctorate in 1969.
He taught at Notre Dame and at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., where he chaired the economics department before joining JU’s faculty in 1979.
He became dean of JU’s College of Arts and Sciences and the Davis College of Business, then provost, during Frances Bartlett Kinne’s decade as JU’s seventh president. After Kinne stepped down in 1989, he succeeded her as president until 1996, then returned to teaching.
After leaving JU, Dr. Brady worked as an arbitrator deciding legal disputes, some involving labor, but had retired several years ago.
In later years, Jim Brady said his parents’ home remained the hub for gatherings with family, whose surviving members include Dr. Brady’s wife, Sheila; sons Matt, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Jim, of Jacksonville, and Mike, of Tallahassee; and seven grandchildren.
Jim Brady said his father, who had heart failure, ended his life at home with family in a way he would have wanted.
On Aug. 18, he had listened as the Tigers faced the New York Yankees, carried the tied contest into a 10th inning, then took the lead.
The game was over.
A celebration of Dr. Brady’s life is planned, but no date has been set.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: From MLB to Jacksonville University president: James J. Brady Jr.'s life recalled
Local Jacksonville, FL
Most Popular
Comments / 0