August 11th 2011
I was there when Jim left us on Friday afternoon, His family asked me to be there when the life support machines were unhooked, and it was a profound experience to see his final decline and passing.
He was highly respected in the business, and at his surprise 80th birthday party last September around 100 people showed up, including many from the golden age of porn. The agency license in his office was dated August 13th 1976, long before many here were born. He was a pioneer.
He was, unfortunately, addicted to cigarettes: 2+ packs of menthols a day for most of his life, and he told me he'd started smoking at age 14. He was put on oxygen last December after he had a fall, and over the last 9 months his health declined slowly at first, and then very fast.
Just after he'd been put on supplemental oxygen, we'd gone out for lunch and when we got back to his house he went out on the patio, put his portable oxygen machine on the floor, took the cannula out of his nose, and lit up a cigarette. I asked him what the fuck he was doing, and he said "I knew at some point I'd have to pay the price". I shot a photo of the moment, and it's clear he knew exactly what he'd done.
December 12th 2019
I'm nearly 4 years sober, but I quit smoking 30+ years ago, and it was way, way harder than quitting booze.