James Monson

A wonderful friend and mentor. We miss him.

Hearing this news has definitely brought sadness to my heart. I graduated from Tomales High School in 2019 and throughout my time there, I was able to create many wonderful memories of Mr. Monson. I will always remember offering him to sit with me since my desk had an extra chair. Every Wednesday he was there in my math class ready to help and always greeted me with a warm smile. There are not enough words to express the impact that Mr. Monson had. My condolences to his family.

I was also in Jim's first class at HMC in 1961. He became a life long friend and mentor. As a teacher he was a hard taskmaster (will anyone ever forget he was a stickler for getting partial fractions perfect when doing Laplace Transforms?). He also helped me publish my Junior lab project although he was not the professor in charge. His support was critical to develop my self confidence. My love and condolences to Julie and his family. Michael Wilson '63

I am among the group of 10 or so students that made up the first class at Harvey Mudd that Jim taught after he joined the faculty in 1961. In my senior year he agreed to let me join him in a one-on-one seminar where we worked on circuits that eventually led to a paper. One of the most influential professors in my life. The obit does not mention it, but I arranged for Jim to receive a Wine Diploma from the California Wine Advisory board, and he was the first person to inspire in me a love...

Jim Monson was a total gentleman. I had the pleasure of crossing paths with him in a number of arenas. We were fellow book chapter authors for Denis Mee and Eric Daniel. I represented IBM at Jim’s engineering clinic of Harvey Mudd, guiding some of his students in research projects. And, of course, I enjoyed participating in his Lake Arrowhead Magnetic Recording workshops. We shared Stanford ties, though many years separated He will be missed but we will have many good memories.

Jim was the organizer of the Lake Arrowhead Interactive Workships on Magnetic Recording, which I was fortunate to attend for many years. He not only organized them, but made numerous technical contributions and was a great friend to all who attended. I always enjoyed seeing Jim at the workshops or at technical conferences on magnetism. I learned a lot from him, not only about magnetics, but about life as well. I am very sorry to learn he has passed away.

Condolences on the loss of Professor Monson. He will be missed. Despite my being a Physics major and he an Engineering professor, he was my academic advisor, and always ready with the right knowledge to share. His mentorship and advisement was deeply felt. Every interaction was a pleasure and many owe him much.

I am saddened to hear about the passing of Professor Monson. I was class of '85, and not even in engineering, but he remembered me and was kind to me when I'd visit the campus or see him at a conference. He attended our virtual class reunion and text-chatted for a bit.