In Memoriam - James Diamond

Ex-DePaul professor James J. Diamond

When DePaul's Blue Demons were one of the nation's top college teams in the late 1970s and early '80s, professor James J. Diamond liked to tell prospective students the university had an economics department the basketball team could be proud of.

A tall man with dark hair and dark eyes, "He had a very quick wit and always had a witty observation," said his daughter, Ann Catherine Wilson. Mr. Diamond spent half a century at DePaul University, first as a student, then as a teacher and dean of the College of Commerce, finishing up with part-time teaching after he retired. He died of heart failure Friday at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. He was 74.

Mr. Diamond was born in Chicago, the son of Scottish immigrants. His father was a mechanical engineer who planned electrical distribution systems, including some on the Northwest Side. He grew up in Lake View, living near cousins with whom he was very close. They often walked the dozen blocks to Wrigley Field to stand outside the walls--no one could afford a ticket--and wait to catch home run balls. If they had a few nickels, they'd take a streetcar to the old Riverview amusement park. St. Andrew's grammar school gave him a scholarship to Quigley Seminary, and he went there three years, finishing up high school at St. Gregory.

It was an easy commute to DePaul, where he earned a bachelor's in 1950 and an MBA in 1951. His first teaching job was at Springfield College. In 1953 he returned to DePaul to teach, specializing in economic theory and econometrics. While teaching, he earned a master's and a doctoral degree in economics from Northwestern University, the Ph.D. in 1962. He became an associate professor, then a professor at DePaul's business school and its economics department. He was department chairman from 1966-70, associate dean of the Graduate School of Business from 1968-70, and dean of the College of Commerce from 1971-78. Then he returned to the economics department to teach until his 1988 retirement. As a professor emeritus he taught part time at DePaul until September 2001. DePaul gave him its highest faculty-staff award, the Via Sapientiae, in 1978. He was president of the Illinois Economic Association from 1980-81, a member of the American Economic Association and the Econometrics Society, and was a consultant to several businesses and nonprofits.

He met Mary Ann Stone at a Catholic youth group. They married in 1959 and lived first in Rogers Park, then in Park Ridge and for the last 23 years in Mount Prospect. "His whole life was DePaul," his wife said. "He was one of those fortunate people who loved what he did." Mr. Diamond loved to read about history, especially the history of the formation of the universe. His sister, Mary Anne Novak, said that as a boy "he could argue with anybody, especially me," about the theory of relativity. Wilson said her father gave her the sense that "you can do anything you put your mind to. I believe he instilled that same kind of confidence in his students." Survivors in addition to his wife, daughter and sister are a son, James, and one granddaughter. Services were Monday.

Chicago Sun Times, June 26, 2002, pg. 75, Brenda Warner Rotzoll