James "Jim" Schlimmer, lover of the human experience, died on Thursday, March 26th at the same time the Iowa Hawkeyes tipped off their route of Nebraska for a bid to the Elite 8. He was 71.

A higher education administrator his whole career, Schlimmer made it his life's work to help students get into and pay for college. As a lover of spreadsheets—pivot tables, to be exact—Schlimmer could wrangle data to tell him anything, all in an effort to understand the heart of whatever was going on.

Jim was born in Davenport, IA to Ruth and Kenny Schlimmer. There, he was raised by his mother, Ruth, and grandmother, Edna Postel, an experience giving him the disposition of gentleness and quiet resolve for his life. As a child, riding his bike was a necessity, yet he fell in love with life on two wheels. His bike was his primary mode of transportation, taking him to and from pony league baseball games and powering his paper route that he faithfully ran for several years. It was then that Jim began reading and appreciating the journalism of The Des Moines Register. As a teen, Jim was a lauded debater, winning forensics awards and competition throughout the state of Iowa.

At Luther College, Jim studied politics though lauded his liberal arts education for teaching him lessons he never knew he needed. His college buddies remained lifelong friends, though their names resemble a list of names from Brett Kavanaugh's high school days. Together, Jim and Coonert, Tang, Bear, and the rest of the gang lived their best life in Decorah, IA, eating Mabe's pizza, the Whippy Dip, drinking beer out of (clean-ish) bed pans, and just generally making harmless chaos.

In 1973, Donald Kaul and John Karras, both journalists from The Des Moines Register, invited readers to join them on a bike ride across the state, The Great Six-Day Bike Ride. This merry band of cyclists started a movement that continues to this day as RAGBRAI, the Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. Kaul and Karras were giants in their fields, but even larger in the mind and imagination of Jim Schlimmer. Jim joined them along their journey from Sioux City to Davenport and would come to make the same journey on two wheels fifty years later with his daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter.

While at Luther, Jim employed the same quiet resolve and can-do attitude that he'd cultivated his entire life to work his way through school. Picking up various jobs over the summer made it possible for him to afford college, but most of all gave his family good stories to laugh at him with later in life. As a driver for Kelly's Potato Chips (the chip with zip), Jim backed his truck into a bar where he was preparing to deliver chips and even tried to fit his thirteen foot truck under a nine foot bridge. As a line worker at the Purina Dog Food production facility, he proudly pulled the levers to mix ingredients into dry dog kibble, though he was known to have accidentally added 20 times the amount of salt to one batch.

After graduating from Luther in 1977, Jim entered the working world as a college admissions professional at Westmar College in Northwest Iowa, a field he remained in throughout his working life despite its challenges, frustrations, and changes over his career. A majority of his career was spent at High Point College, where he eventually met the love of his life, Dr. Alexa Schlimmer. There in High Point, the Schlimmers created a life and home with the same quiet resolve Jim had his entire life.

In 1986, the Schlimmers welcomed Andy into their world and the family was completed in 1989 with the birth of Katie. At that point, Jim got the chance to be the father he never had. He coached basketball and soccer at the Y, instilled in the kids his love for biking, played too-many-to-count basketball games in the driveway with the Martins and Applegates, all the while supporting Alexa's dreams of vocal performance.

As a displaced (or misplaced) Iowan, Jim maintained his love of all things Iowa Hawkeyes, going so far as to ride around High Point searching for the best place to pick up WHO AM 1040 that carried Iowa Men's Basketball games. On several occasions while looking for a strong radio signal, Jim had police called on him because he'd finally gotten clear sound in a stranger's driveway. When the Hawkeyes made it to the Sweet Sixteen in 1999, he proudly checked Andy and Katie out of school for a doctor's appointment with "Doctor" Davis, the coach of the Hawkeyes.

With major changes in High Point, Jim began his sojourn through different higher education settings, allowing him to experience life in Florence, SC, Nashville, TN, Memphis, TN, Chicago, IL, Lake Superior, WI, Decorah, IA, Batesville, AR, and Bluefield, WV. With each move, he brought a quiet resolve and hopeful determination to make a difference. Through it all, Alexa remained steadfast by his side, even if from a distance, creating steadiness for Jim and the family.

Jim spent his retirement years in Savannah, Georgia, living the island life, biking everywhere, making friends at the Kroger Bar, Friendship Coffee, and anywhere else he could find someone to talk liberal politics. It was rare for him to go a day without talking about RAGBRAI 50, a life changing pilgrimage he took with Katie, her husband John, and Sophie, the light of his life. When they hoisted their bikes above their heads in Davenport's part of the Mighty Mississippi, they lifted memories, laughter, mishaps, and frustration into the cosmic ether that would surround them from then on.

In retirement, Jim and Alexa traveled together to Germany, Austria, Iceland, Italy, and France, always finding a way to test each other's patience, while simultaneously loving each other with more fortitude and zeal than ever before. Amidst missed busses and separation on trains in foreign countries, they somehow found ways to persevere without committing murder because of their commitment to and love for one another.

With a penchant for wandering away in the name of fun, Jim has wandered off making his family look for him at Acrisure (Steelers) Stadium, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, downtown Iowa City, and more. Jim always sought new friends at the bar to talk to about good craft beer, Iowa sports, RAGBRAI, and his granddaughter, Sophie.

Jim is survived by his immediate family including his adoring wife, Alexa, two kids, Andy and Katie, bonus kids Natalie and John, and his only granddaughter, Sophie, the light of his life and partner in mischief. Jim is also survived by his sister, Patti, and bonus sister, Ann. He is preceded in death by his mother, Ruth Schlimmer, his grandmother, Edna Postel, and his adoring in-laws, Rev. Walker and Sophie Jean Jackson.

Gifts in memory of Jim can be made to any liberal organization of your choosing or the University of Iowa's Swarm Collective. Alternatively, you can use the money to buy yourself a 6-pack of a craft IPA and split it with a friend in his honor.

Details for his celebrations are forthcoming.

Messages of condolence can be expressed to the family online at www.almonfuneralhome.com

Almon Funeral Home of Carrollton has charge of the arrangements.