JAMES MENTZER STAYER

March 15, 1935 - April 23, 2025 Professor Emeritus – Queen's University Department of History. Jim died peacefully on April 23, 2025. Born March 15, 1935, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Jim grew up in the picturesque small town of Denver, one of two children of Raymond and Helen Stayer. His early childhood was spent in the era of the New Deal and the Second World War. In 1968, he moved to Canada and became professor at Queen's University, Kingston. His most important contribution to scholarship was in the study of the Anabaptists in the sixteenth-century German Reformation. Jim was a skilled, engaging and well-liked teacher at Queen's, leading his students in intellectual journeys of discovery about the history of ideas, modern European history, historiography, and the European Reformation. Jim's career created exciting opportunities for European travel, for him and his family, including in Freiburg (1961-62), Münster (1967-68) and Zurich (1974-75). Jim and Marcia had three children: Elizabeth, William, and James. Jim was a loving and dedicated father, who also had a great sense of adventure. He took his children on unusual adventures, such as multi-week bicycle trips through Europe, and skating, skiing, and rowboat expeditions in Canada. In 1985, he and Marcia divorced. On May 7, 1988, he married Adrianne Sharon (Hennick) Tunnicliffe, mother of three children from her previous marriage – Dawn, Darryl and Ryan. Jim was predeceased by his sister, Martha (Alfano). He is survived by Sherry; the six children of their marriages; and seven grandchildren, (Sarah, Gillian (Scott), Nathan, Kirstin, Neil, Daniel, and Adrian). Donations to Congregation Iyr HaMelech or to the Stephen Lewis Foundation may be made in his memory. Resting at James Reid Funeral Home, 1900 John Counter Blvd, Kingston. Visitation will be Monday, April 28, from 12:00 - 12:50 p.m. Funeral service to follow at 1:00 p.m. Interment, Cataraqui Cemetery, with a reception to follow in the James Reid Reception Centre.