Article published Thursday, July 30, 2009 JAMES R. DIDHAM, 1943-2009 Ex-college V.P. was advocate for adoption
TONTOGANY - James R. Didham, 65, a wildlife photographer and onetime race-car driver who was a college vice president, a public broadcasting executive, and an educational fund-raiser, died July 24 in a crash at State Rt. 64 and Bishop Road in Wood County's Plain Township.
Troopers at the Bowling Green post of the Ohio Highway Patrol said Mr. Didham was southbound on Route 64 about 5:50 a.m. when his car collided with a pickup truck that did not stop at a stop sign on Bishop. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mr. Didham founded AmeriFund and the Didham Co. and helped schools and school groups with fund-raising efforts. A joint venture of his, Mark 1, offered character-building curricula called "Changing Lives" to school districts.
"He was so excited about the program," his wife, Beverly, said.
At one time, he traveled to school districts in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Eventually, he worked out of his Washington Township home. He retired about two years ago, his son, Robert, said.
He was director of development for WGTE public broadcasting in Toledo for about 2 1/2 years, beginning in 1989, said Shirley Timonere, former president and chief executive officer of WGTE television and radio. His focus was gaining funding from foundations. But he also worked with individuals willing to make large donations.
"He enjoyed helping find programs and projects they would enjoy funding," Ms. Timonere said. "He was very creative.
"He was a real old-school kind of guy, very gentlemanly and soft-spoken and courteous. He was always of good humor. I marveled at his way of putting a positive spin on things."
He went to WGTE after two stints at what is now the University of Findlay.
"He was so broad-spectrumed," his wife said.
He was hired in 1975 at what was then Findlay College as assistant to the president, with duties in institutional research and admissions. He took time away to start the Findlay Health & Racquet Club.
He returned to Findlay College and became vice president of institutional advancement. Concerned that middle-income families would not be able to send their children to Findlay, he championed a pay-in-advance tuition alternative. He advocated the school's name change in 1989 from Findlay College to the University of Findlay.
Before Findlay, he was director of admissions at Mount Union College and was an admissions counselor at Baldwin-Wallace College.
"He was so motivated and had so much energy that anybody around him felt that energy," his daughter, Laural, said. "It was true throughout his life. He was such a success at anything he ever did."
He received a bachelor's degree from Baldwin-Wallace; a master's degree from Kent State University, and did postgraduate work at the University of Michigan.
He taught high school Spanish in Strongsville, Ohio.
While an undergraduate, he worked for Franklin Ice Cream in Cleveland and became a district manager. At one point, he drove race cars, his wife said.
Life wasn't easy early on. He was born on Nov. 6, 1943, as James Shafer. His mother was an alcoholic, and he grew up in foster homes and orphanages - about 20 different places in all, he told The Blade in 2003.
He was 16 when Elizabeth and Robert Didham of Bedford, Ohio, adopted him.
In the 1990s, he became a board member of Adopt America Network, the Toledo-based group that helps find homes for diffcult-to-place children. He took a break from the board when his late wife, Ediann, became president and chief executive officer.
He had been chairman of the group's endowment committee and, in 2003, donated $100,000 to Adopt America Network, at that time the largest by a single donor to the organization. Earlier, he donated $35,000 to create an educational fund to help families give their adoptive children such opportunities as music lessons or tutoring.
"When I see some of these older children who are adopted, I sometimes think about what would have happened to me had the Didhams not adopted me," he told The Blade in 2003. "It's rewarding. It's just amazing to see these families come together."
He was a nature and wildlife photographer - an avocation and eventually profession that grew out of hiking and canoeing trips with his son that began when his son, now 30, was 7.
Each year, he donated a photograph to Adopt America for its annual dinner auction.
Mr. Didham also was on the Ohio chapter board of the Nature Conservancy and was the chapter photographer.
"He instilled in me a sense of responsibility for contributing to society, that all of us are part of building the society we live in," his son said.
Mr. Didham was a member of Tontogany Calvary United Methodist Church.
He formerly was married to Cheryl Fortman.
He and his second wife, Ediann, married in 1977. She died Feb. 9, 2008.
Surviving are his wife, Beverly, whom he married March 20; daughter, Laural Lynn Brooks; son, Robert Didham; stepson, Aaron Biesbrock; stepdaughters, Brittany Kiser, Lisa Sullivan, Cherie Hoffmann, and Amy Shewmaker; two grandchildren, and eight stepgrandchildren.
A celebration of life service is set for 3 p.m. Saturday in the Deck-Hanneman Funeral Home & Crematory, Bowling Green, where the family will receive friends after noon.
The family suggests tributes to Adopt America Network or the Ohio chapter of the Nature Conservancy. Permanent Link
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