After fighting a long and courageous battle with Alzheimer’s, Brigadier General James Lee “Jim” Kays (Retired) passed away peacefully on January 6, 2021 at his home in Pinehurst, NC, surrounded by his wife and family. Jim was born January 2, 1941 in Rogers, AR. He was predeceased by his father, Lee George, his mother, Helen Agnes, and his only brother, John Stanley (Buddy). Jim met the love of his life, Jeane, at the Fort Bragg Officers’ Club pool on July 3, 1961. He graduated ninth in his class from the United States Military Academy at West Point, commissioning as an Army Field Artillery officer on June 6, 1962. Jimmy and Jeane were married four days later, on June 10, 1962.
Then the fun began…
Jim’s distinguished career spanned over 40 years of military and civilian service. He served over 36 years in uniform, starting with a combat tour in Vietnam with the 82nd Airborne Division and culminating as the founding professor and first head of USMA’s Systems Engineering Department. Jim not only inspired analytical and academic excellence but was respected and called upon by his cadet students, staff, and peers in difficult situations. In any situation, no matter how difficult, Jimmy Kays could be counted on to do the right thing every time.
He will be remembered for his loyalty not only to his country but to his soldiers, his students, his family, his friends and to humanity. Jim’s other active-duty stations included Fort Benning, GA (Ranger and Airborne schools); Fort Sill, OK (FA OBC/FA OGCS); Fort Campbell, KY (101st Training Center); Fort Leavenworth, KS (CGSC), Republic of Korea (battalion XO); the Pentagon (DA); Carlisle Barracks, PA (Army War College); and teaching at West Point. Jim earned both his master’s degree and Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. He retired as a brigadier general in 1998 with three Army Commendation Medals (one with valor), Vietnam Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Army Staff Identification Badge, Ranger Tab, Parachutist Badge, Combat Infantryman Badge, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Bronze Star Medal, Legion of Merit, and Distinguished Service Medal. His civilian career started as the head of the Math Department at Auburn University at Montgomery. Jim then came back into the government as a civil servant serving in the Senior Executive Service as the dean of the Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Science at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, where he once again created a Systems Engineering Department. He officially retired to Pinehurst in 2010 after serving two years as the Navy chair of Systems Engineering. Jim was inducted into the Army Operations Research Society of America Hall of Fame in October 2020.
Aside from his family and the Army, Jim’s favorite passion, his third love of his life, was West Point’s 150-pound Sprint Football Team. He dedicated 26 years of his life to the team as a player, coach, and head officer representative. Jim was not one to ask anything of anybody. The one thing he simply requested of his teammates and players was that they give everything they had to the game. This is the precedence that Jim Kays instilled. One of his legacies was the “Tight Butts” strategy he developed as the plebe coach in a game between the “Hives” and the “Goats” to prevent penetration from much bigger upperclassmen. The plebes went on to win that game and consequently Jim’s record across the years he played and coached amounted to 80-percent wins. Jim recruited the best technical and tactical coaches and players to maintain the positive continuity he created. As a result, they won numerous league championships and dominated Navy for many years. In recognition of his tireless efforts to revitalize the sprint football league and the Anthracite Bowl, the coaches of the league honored him in 1990 by naming the league’s Most Valuable Player award the Colonel Jim Kays MVP Award. Appropriately, to honor his unquestioned love of West Point, Jim was wearing a “Beat Navy” tee-shirt as he took his last breath.
Jim was a mentor to hundreds of cadet-athletes, graduate students, and soldiers. He is most known and remembered for instructing his cadet students to think outside of the normal process to solve future problems using systems analysis. He was a man of honor, brilliance, and kindness and inspired all to be a better version of themselves.
He is survived by his wife, Jeane; his daughter, Christy and her three sons: Jimmy, John, and Michael; his elder son, Michael (USMA Class of 1994), daughter-in-law, Vanessa, and their daughters: Brittany, Anneliesa, and Olivia; and his younger son, John (USMA Class of 1997), daughter-in-law, Danielle (USMA Class of 1997), and their two daughters: Victoria and Gracie.
Jim Kays rests in Arlington National Cemetery. May our American hero, loving husband, giving father, inspiring grandpa, fellow soldier, dedicated teammate, and loyal friend Be Thou at Peace. Go Army, Beat Navy!
— Loving family and classmate Phil Burns